The Sun.
London, England, 1837-11-18 00:00:00

I)A.RLIAIVIEN TAR Y PRIVILEGE.

mained in custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms until the end
of the session, three months, when not having been com-
mitted for a time certain, they were, of course, liberated.
Thus we have seen that whenever the liberties of the
people were attempted to be invaded under colour of law,
the keen eye of the Commons detected the fraud, and their
strong arm was stretched forth promptly to quell the of-
fender. The power of the Commons is the power of the
people, and the House are bound to transmit that power
unimpaired to their successors. If they fail in this they
betray their trust, and not only deserve the execrations of
their constituents, but of posterity.
The following propositions contain the whole substance of
the question, and should be impressed upon the mind of
every Member of the House :

r, TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
In a former letter I promised to enumerate the
eases • .
winch the Justices of the Crown had assumed to
decide questions of Constitutional or Parliamentary law,
!Inas:, to controul the Houses of Parliament. I did hope to
e been able to omit this ungracious task ; but as I per-
ceive that an article has been put forth in a Law publication,
; ihipine!l:, although remarkable for nothing but shallowness and
r-"eY, yet does it indicate the animus of the party so
Iti3nglY, that I shall fulfil my promise.
t There have been Judges in former times who attempted
° degrade the Houses of Parliament, " under the fraudu-
lent Pretence of succouring liberty." But in all those cases,
t
use Mr. Hargrave's words, " The two Houses did not
"get their duty." The first attempt of these Judges was
generally their last. The bar of the Houses was the ter-
„innus of their official career. They were sent from thence
alto retirement, or into exile, or—to the scaffold.
„In the 10th year of the reign of Richard 11., the
taltiti_seps_of Parliament compelled the King to sanction an
parliament empowering certain Commissioners to
-jure into all abuses in the Household and Courts of
Lan', and to regulate and controul till Officers, Ministers,
ball eee.' B‘e- The year following, when the King's hands had
en a 'efficiently strengthened to make the attempt, he
e
- a Council at Nottingham, when questions were put
tt,c) all the Judges as to the power of the Houses to coerce
Sovereign, and as to the criminality of those who were
the Prime movers of the Act. The King's Justices decided
that the Act was null and void, and that those who were
host active in procuring its enrolment " ought to be punished
Las traitors." The Juiges were impeached by the Commons
are the Lords ; and it is declared in the Roll that " The
Lord
the spent a long time, and took great pains to examine
"1 evidences, the better to satisfy their own consciences
and
the world." They had an awful responsibility cast
t!'" them ; but they did not, from a cruel mercy, shrink
;angst
their duty. Eight of these unhappy men were banged,
;angst whom was Sir Robert Tresilian, the Chief Justice
the King's Bench. The rest were banished.
nin the 11th of Charles 1., that wretched Monarch, wish-
ing o trample on the liberties of the people, fell upon the
ice
of taxing by prerogative. He naturally resorted to li
his
She
for the sanction of their opinion in his favour.
th -.Ley give it ? To be sure they gave it I " Though
sn_e Statute Book was full of legislative declarations against
es without consent in Parliament," says Mr. Hargrave,
though not so much as one recognition of the claim could
found in the Records of Justice, the Court of Exclie-
leer in Bates's case unanimously gave judgment for impo-
titio
ha 48 by prerogative on imports and exports ; and in
niPden's case, though some very recent admonitions and
hl.niags of duty hal inter% cued, all the Judges of West-
41uster Hall, two only excepted, joined to give the sane-
mcal of a judicial opinion to Ship-money. Nor were mono-
15°1ies, loans, and benevolences, wholly uncountenanced by
Courts of Ju:tice."
The Lord Kee ,er Finch, the principal offender, was
brought to the l'ar of the House of Commons in 16.10—
where h, said,—" For the shipping business, my opinion of
that cause hath lain heavy upon me. I shall clearly and truly
;Present
i unto you what every thing is, with this protesta-
,", that if in reckoning up my own opinion what I was
°l' or what I delivered, any thing of it be displeasing or
Easycont ; io the opinion of this House, that I am far from
'llltiYing of it, but submit that, and all other my actions,
10 your wisdom and goodness."
This subdued bearing of the Lord Keeper forms a strik-
ing Contrast to the lofty tone he assumed when assailing
the Constitution, under what he then deemed to be a suf-
cient protection. His loud voice and threatening looks,
i
and grovelling minds mistook for courage and determi-
nation, 1,7:.en in truth they were nothing snore than the in-
dications of mean and cowardly presumption, arising out o
fancied security.
The House persisted in their intentions to impeach the
Lord Keeper. Seeing which, he got up early the next
morning, and escaped into Holland. The civil war soon
after breaking out, the proceedings were suspended. He,
however, remained an exile for eight years, and paid com-
position money, amounting to 7,0001. Articles of impeach-
tent were also sent up against Mr. Justice Crawley and
Mr, Justice Berkley.
In 1667, after the report of a Committee (appointed to
Incluirainto the conduct of Chief Justice Keeling) had been
tics the House of Commons resolved, that the Chief Jus-
(47 hash used an arbitrary and illegal power, which is of
p "s consequences to the lives and liberties of the
tren-r`e Of England, and tends to the introducing of an arbi-
-17 government.
11t1 That, in place of judicature, the Lord Chief Justice
i"" undervalued, vilified, and contemned Magna Charta,
"e great preserver of our lives, freedoms, and property.
That he be brought to trial, in order to condign pu-
nish ntent, in such a manner as the House shall judge most
fit and requisite."
ae:Fite House were then informed that the Chief Justice
tred to be heard at the bar of the House to make his
tfe,nee• This they granted. The sequel I shall describe
tne ewords of Sir Robert Atkins :—" And I myself," says
(ir R,obert, " have seen a Lord Chief Justice of this Court
,„—" la.). while he was Lord Chief Justice, and a learned
an, by leave from the House of Commons, pleading be-
Ze that House for himself, and excusing what he had
, in a trial that came before them in the West, whereof
-".°ll3laint was made to the House. And he did it with
that great humility and reverence, and those of his own pro-
4alen and others were so far his advocates, as that the
44e desisted from any further prosecution."
Both Jeffreys and Scroggs maintained the doctrine en-
to
reed in the case of Stockdale v. Hansard. But we will
not befoul our pages by noticing these ermined ruffians—
We 'll know what became of them. It is worthy of note
that
James 11. was the Sovereign who made the precedent,
'eh has been since acted upon pretty generally, of ereat-
I 4 certain Judges Peers, and that that precedent was
tvtde in the person of Jeffreys. There may have been one
th Wo cases in much earlier times ; but Burnett tells us that
i 'vas considered then a most unconstitutional proceed-
thg' Lord Brougham has declared it to be " contrary to
Do,e "inciples of the Constitution to blend in one individual
"tie•al and judicial functions."
In the reign of James 11., informations for libels, filed
C-ar. 11., were prosecuted against Sir William Wil-
itlT. An order of the House of Commons was pleaded
rtil:Aar* The Chief Justice, Sir Edward Herbert, over-
led the plea. The character of this Judge we will take
cozu the most favourable source—Burnet. He says :
f TThere was a new Chief Justice found out very different
AZ' 'Jeffreys, Sir Edward Herbert. He was a well-bred
Ibut 4 virtuous man, generous, and good-natured. He was
pt
aen' indifferent lawyer, and had gone to Ireland to find
art :flee and preferment there. He unhappily got into a
very high notions with relation to the King's prern-
tkte e* His gravity and virtues gave him great advan-
bik:' chiefly succeeding such a monster as had gone before
aphopstsliic,,:joot of
ilie,beine• found to be a fit tool, was, without any
il
his being
raised up all at once to this high

1. That, as the corporate power and privileges of the
Commons' House of Parliament are the power and privi-
leges of the whole British people, to submit the extent of
that power to the determination of the Justices of the
Crown (who are but inferior functionaries appointed and
sworn to administer the common and the statute laws as
they find them framed for ordinary occasions, and not to
stay proceedings on account of any extraordinary writ or
letter issued under the Great or the Privy Seal), would be
to abandon and betray the people's liberties, by indirectly
adding a new power to the Crown and the Peerage hitherto
unknown to the Constitution of these realms.

2. That, as the Law of Parliament is the law of the
Constitution, the proceedings under that law by either
House of Parliament are alone subject to public obser-
vation and public opinion, and can only be legitimately
reviewed in Conference of the Lords and Commons ;
and that it would be unseemly and unconstitutional
in any inferior Court, either ecclesiastical or maritime,
of Common Law or Equity, to presume to canvass and de-
cide, according to these inferior laws, acts done pursuant to
the orders of either House of Parliament ; which orders are
issued in administration of the more high and politic rules
of law and principles of justice which constitute the Law of
Parliament—the paramount law of the land—and are the
proceedings in Parliament expressly pointed at by the Bill
of Rights.

I have forborne to encumber the body of these Letters
with references to the cases and precedents cited. They
are nearly all to be found in Ferran Law of Parliament,
which was published more than three months before the
Report of the Select Committee appeared. The Commons
have hitherto done their duty, and deserve the thanks of the
country for the Resolutions of 30th May. Should they be
forced to exercise their authority, they may rely upon sig-
nal and determined popular support.

A REFORMER.

ACCIDENTS AND LOSSES IN THE
CROWD, ON THE OCCASION OF THE ROYAL
PROCESSION.

(From the First Number of Jim Crow.)
Sir Charles Wetherell got surrounded by a mob of the
unwashed, who by a pardonable mistake mistook him for
one of themselves. They at first made free with the learned
Knight's shirt (a piece of luxury they were at a loss to un-
derstand), but on observing its hue they honourably re-
stored it. _ _

Sir Edward Sugdcn was unwise enough to bring his pedi-
gree with him. It was afterwards found hanging on a bar-
ber's pole.
The Duke of Richmond, Lord Stanley, Sir James
Graham, and other passengers of " the Dilly," lost their
their consistency. Although diligent search has been made,
it has not yet been picked up.
The Bishop of London, in passing through St. Paul's
(of which he is Dean), lost sight of his tolerance and
Christian humility. A substitute has been since provided
him in the shape of a leader from the Standard.
Lord Abinger (coming direct from Westminster Hall),
on a sudden missed his law. His Lordship was not, how-
ever, observed to be any lighter on his arrival.
Sir Francis Burdett, in passing through Westminster
(the scene of his former glory), lost himself. He has been
for some time a dead loss to his country, to public virtue,
patriotism, and the principles of his youth. The substitute
that he offers is a twaddling " faded gentleman" from North
Wilts, who denounces O'Connell as an alien, and lauds the
Duke of Wellington's political principles to the skies.
Sir George Murray found his courage gone before he
reached the Hall. It had not, however, been visible since
the night of his valiant attack on General Evans, in his
absence.

The Earl of Egremout caught cold on visiting
Brighton the week before last, to pay his duty to the
Queen, and returned to Petworth on Thursday, the 2d of
November, not well ; but his illness put on no character of
serious indisposition until Tuesday afternoon, when Sir Mat-
thew Tierney was summoned to visit him, and arrived at
Petworth on Wednesday morning, at half-past eight o'clock,
although suffering severely from the gout. Sir Matthew
continued in close attendance on his Lordship until his
death, which took place at a quarter past 11 o'clock, p.m.
on Saturday, the 11th inst.—Brighton Gazette.
EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE.—An inquest was
held on Monday last, before Mr. De Lasaux, coroner, at
the parish of River, on the body of Francis Ayburn Wor-
rell, who destroyed himself by cutting his right arm with
a knife, from which he bled to death. It appeared from
the evidence of Crosoer, of the Dover police, that on Sa-
turday morning he found the deceased in a field in the parish
of Poulton ; he was lying on his back quite dead, without
a coat. An incision had been made in his right arm, from
which a very large quantity of blood had issued ; near him
was a knife marked with blood, which there could be no
doubt was the instrument that caused his death. It also
appeared in evidence, that ;the deceased had been in a
nervous state during the last year, and had lately visited
Dover for a change of air, lie being at times very low and
desponding. He was 53 years of age, having a daughter
married to a respectable tradesman, who lives at Dover.

Verdict, Insanity.—Kentish Observer.
Sunday morning, a man was discovered drowning
in the Clyde betwixt the Glasgow and the Accommoda-
tion Bridges. On some individuals rushing to his rescue,
they found that he had got his arms firmly tied to his sides
with a handkerchief, and seemed bent on self-destruction.
It was only by force they got him out, and carried him to
the Police-office, where, being taken care of, he recovered.
Should there there not be a few spare blankets or great-
coats kept in the office in which to wrap unfortunate
beings in such an emergency as this.—Scots Times.
The tide rose so high on Sunday as to overflow the
street in Strood, and numerous passengers were con-
veyed in carts at the charge of a penny. A barge going
up the river became fixed in one of the arches of Roches-
ter-bridge until liberated by the falling of the tide.—
Kentish Observer. _ _

-----
The wife of a respectable man in Carluke was last
week brought into the gaol of Lanark on suspicion of hav-
ing murdered a man by administering poison to him, and
during her examination a suspicion arose that she had
taken the life of another, an old woman in the neighbour-
hood, by the same means. Both had died under her
charge, and were buried, and both were raised from their
graves, and the fact ascertained that they had died by poison.
Proof has been obtained of her having purchased arsenic
on account of rats, and that no rats were known to be in
the house to any one but herself. The whole circumstances
of the case have been sent off to the Lord Advocate.—
Glasgow Courier.
Thursday evening, between eight and nine o'clock,
a young gentleman of the name of Wrightson, residing with
his brother, an artist, at No. 4, Southampton-street, Mor-
nington-crescent, Camden-town, committed suicide by shoot-
ing himself. The b•dIl entered the pericardium, and death
must have been instantaneous, for on his brother and a
medical friend, whose company he had recently left, enter-
ing his bed-room scarcely half a minute after the report, life
was found to be perfectly extinct. A paper was on his
dressing table on which was written, in pencil,
" Life is sweet.

in
°.Sir Ed. Hales' case he maintained the dispensing
14" of the Sovereign • and he and the other judges (ex-
-414 S 4 .• • that the Kings of
t eet and Powel) were of opinion,
Nland were absolute monarchs. He was subsequently
ttia"ed to the Common Pleas, and, at the Revolution,
t: ally „listnissed. I cannot find any trace of this judge of
rWaras--in all probability the influence and services of
to 'ttel:ative, Admiral Herbert, induced the House to con•
Di 1- :tself with the declaration in the Bill of Rights—
e'Y, that James had forfeited the Crown of England,
IC.'"git other things, " by prosecutions in the Court of
14, 41's Bench for matters and causes cognizable onlyi in
o
li,4ll.l4aient" Sir \Vim Williams was not popular, anct
tl.;:je'la'e historians attribute Parliaments not compellinge
11dg" to Pay the costs and damages incurred in cons
of their illegal decision. These and the next case
Topham) clearly, distinctly, and vunequivocally,kio
001 the meaning of the ninth article in tl..Billof
oq,l its, which declares that, " proceedings in Parliament
14:ent /Int to b,
411 t of Parliament."
peached or questioned in any Court or
tlte 14th Car. 11., Mr.Topham, the SA.geant-at:
Arms,
treap, :At, order of the House of Commons to an action of
Jay us h' ought against him in the King's Bench, by one
clt) The plea concluded to the jurisdiction—this the
vivi
art tover-r uled. In 1689, after the Revolution, the sur-
4eQ4:`udges, Chief Justice Pemberton and Sir Thomas
k\i' Were brought to the Bar of the House ; and, having
ard their defence, were committed. They re-

Common Proverb.
I have found it bitter."
The dread of the failure of some literary speculations is the
only assignable motive for the rash deed.
LOVE AND CRIME.—The announcement of a new
novel, under the above title, from the practised and popu-
lor pen of the author of " 13rambletye House," will excite
no little attention and curiosity in the literary world—espe-
cially after the long interval that has elapsed since the last
appearance before the public of this favourite writer. The
other title of this forthcoming work, " Jane Lomax," seems
to promise that the scene of it is laid in that class of life in
connection with which this author has already produced
such happy and natural delineations. To depict the real
characters, humours, passions, and social peculiarities that
everywhere surround us in middle life, and to do so with a
fine moral purpose and result, blended with the entertain-
ment which they afford, is decidedly thepte of this clever
and pleasing writer ; and we look with much interest to the
result in the present instance.
Yesterday afternoon a man was driving the cab No.
1,550 to the stand in Picket-street at the moment that one
of the conveyances (No. 25) belonging to the Parcel Deli-
very Company was proceeding in an opposite direction at a
rapid rate. The two vehicles came in collision with such
violence, that the cabman was dashed from his seat into the
road. The poor fellow fell upon his head, which was frac-
tured in a frightful manner. He was removed to the hos-
pital, where be at present lies in a very dangerous state.

E SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1837.

UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE.

OXFORD, Nov. .16.—This day the following degrees were
conferred :--

MASTERS OF ARTS.-John William Wing, Fellow of Uni-
versity College ; Rev. William Gilbard, Worcester College ;
Rev. Durbin Brice, Queen's College ; Rev. George Gardner
Harter' Trinity College; Thomas Blencowe, Wadham Col-
lege ; Rev. John Davies, New Inn Hall.
BACHELORS OF ARTS.-Daniel Stratton, Worcester Col-
lege; Samuel Minton, Thomas Benjamin Adair, Exeter Col-
lege ; John P. Scott, Balliol College ; Charles Clarke, Tri-
nity College; John B. B. Hankey, Merton College; Richard
Edward Bassett, Lincoln College ; Henry Edward Michel,
New College; Alfred Turner, Andrew's Exhibitioner of St.
John's College; Walter Jones Williams, St. John's College.
CAMBRIDGE, NOV. 18.—PREACHERS AT GREAT SAINT
MARY'S, Nov. 19.—Morning, Mr. Dodsworth, Cath..hall.
Afternoon, Mr. Whewell, Trinity.
At a Congregation on Wednesday last the following degrees
were conferred :
HONORARY MASTERS OF ARTS.—Hon. G. Wentworth
Fitzwilliam, Trinity College, second son of Earl Fitzwilliam ;
Hon. Edward Pleydell-Bouverie, Trinity College, second son
of Lord Radnor.

MASTERS OF ARTS.—Charles Spence Bourchier, St. John's
College; Thomas Bibby, St. John's College; Robert Mon-
teith, Trinity College.
LICENTIATES IN PHYSlC.—William Augustus Guy, Pem-
broke College; Henry Alfred Pitman, Trinity College; Wil-
liam Harcourt Ranking, Catharine-hall.
BACHELORS OF ARTS.—Frederick Roberts, St. Peter's Col-
lege ; Richard Farquhar Wise, St. John's College ; Charles
Marett, Pembroke College; Joshua Finlinson, Queen's College.