The Sun.
London, England, 1806-06-20 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

HOUSE OF PEERS.
•
THURSDAY, JUNE 19.
Earl MAN!,.ZERS (late Lord Viscount Newark) was
introduced by the Earls of Hardwicke and Limerick.
His Patent of Creation having been read' at the Ta-
ble, his Lordship took the Oaths and his Seat..
Mr. ADAM was heard as Counsel on Sir John
Gordon's Divorce Bill. Witnesses were also exa-
,min-td to prove the necessary Documents and the
.of Adultery. The Earl of Mountnorris was
one of the Witnesses who was examined at the Ta-
ble of the House, where his Lordship was allowed a

Chair. •
The Bill was then read a second time and com-
,mir e,i for Monday.
Mr. flobhouse, Mr. Pym, Mr. Graham, and seve-
ral other, Members of the
,House of commons;
• brought up the Irish Post Road Bill, and some Pri -
vlte Bills; which were read a,rirst time. The Irish
Post Road Bill was, on the Motion of the Earl,of
Limerick, ordered to be printed.
The Resolutions of the Committee of the whole
lionse respe&ing the Administration of Civil Jus-
t ice in Scotland were reported by Lord Walsingham,
and, on the Motion of Lord Grenville, ordered.to be
printed.
The West India Auditor3' Bill was read a second
time and committed for to-morrow.
SLAVE TRADE.
The Earl of WESTMORLAND expressed a wish that
the Noble Lord oppoSite (LOrd Grenville) would
consent to postpone his Motion relative to the Slave
Trade, which -stood for' to.frhorroW, till Tuesday, on
account of the indisposition of an Illustrious Duke
(the Duke -of Clarence, we believe), who was
anxious to attend upon the discussion of that
ques-
tion.

Lord GRENVILLE expressed his regret at the in-
disposition of the Illustrious Duke alluded to by
the Noble Earl, and.readily.deceded td the Noble
Earl's reqfiest.
The Earl of WESTrtoRLA:•Tn requested to, know
in what form the Noble Lord's proposition upon the
subject would •be made ?
Lord GRENVILLE replied, that the Obje& of it
would be to agree to ,the Resolution of the House of
Commons.

The Resolution communicated from the House of
Commons V;as.ordei-ed to be taken into consideration
on Tuesday next.
The Ead.Of WrEgTmoRLANI) presented. a Petition
frorn certain Persons. concerned in the West-India,
Trele, and another from the Agent of the Island Of
iitolaica, against the 'Abolition of the Slave Trade ;
Nel.vich were ordered to lie on the'Table:

RIDGE FOX.
Lord GRENVILLE moved the Order of the Day
for the Consideration of the Petition 'of Mr. Justice
4)x. _ _

The following Petition was then read by the

Clerk :

To the Right Honourable the LORDS Sri R.ITU AL and TEM:.
:ORAL of the United Kiiigdotn of Great Britain and Ire-
, land in Parliament assembled,

The PETITION of the Hon. LUKE FOX,

On::. of the ustices of His Majesty's Court of Common Pleas
in ; rend

Humbly Sheweth,
'"
That the -Petitioner, 'in the summer of the year 143,
*tot, as one of the I udges of Assize, uoon the North West
iir oischarged the auties ot his
to the best of his judgment, according to law, and the
Solemn obligation of his oath, by which he was bound to. do
justice indifferently, without respect of persons.
" That as long attcr,the conclusion of that Circuit as the,
tst May, 0304, a Petition was presented to your .Lordships
by' John Hatt, Esq. complaining of certain parts of the Peti-
tioner's conduel in hig situation of judge, at the Assizes held
at .I..itli.hd,•on the said Circuit; and in the month of july,iBo4,
two other Petitions, apparently influenced by the example of
• the said john Hart, were presented to your Lordships ; one in
!Jac name of William Armstrong,
.and,others ; and the other
iu the name of Gerrard Irvine, Esq. further complaining of
your Petitioner's conduel at Inniskillen, on the said Circuit.
" Your Petitioner begs leave to inform your, Lordships,
thri he receivod no previous notice, horn any person,: that it
was intended to make his judicial conduct the subjed of pub.
Ire complaint ; and he was first'apprised of the same by ttre
cminmon Nrewspapers, having been at the time occupied by-
the duties of his othce.in Dublin ; but anxious to rescue his
Cileirdeler born any imputation, and deeply sensible of the
public injury which must result flop permitting Charges,
hOweVer urnounded, - to remain suspended over a person ap-
pointed to administer justice, yodr Petitionercante.torthwith
to London, for the purpose of vindicating his charader, and
taking- the necessary steps for his speedy and immediate de
knee.

,04 Chat on the sth July, 0304, . certain Articles of Corn
plaint, founded upon the aforesaid Petitions, and other mat-
ters, were presented to -our Lordships,' and laid upon your
tame ; but Parliam,ent was soon atterWards prorogued,. and
pour Petitioner had to return to the discharge of his fundiOns
of a i udge oppressed 'With the weight and obloquy of a
iniblie accusation preferred in his absence,' to the highest tri-
••ai in the realm, and precluded from' all means of vindi—
rstiog his eh:trader, or defending his conduct, until a future
'fsl,,,sum of Parliament, by reason of the complaint against
Petitioner not having been brought' forward, by his ac-
• cioets till near the close of the Session, when it was impos-
bt.te to.haVe any effectual proceedings thereon.
Petitioner tespedfully submits to your Lordships,
that in a business of such serious importance to the adinini-
ses'initofpublic justice, as ,fiat of a criminal accusation
ae insione, of His Majesty's badges, it might reasonably have
expeded, that the Articles of Complaint jaresented
a, :Must him would have been frayned upon great deliberation,
and with serupulotas caution ; the•rnote especially from the
e tremely harsh nature of the Charges themselves, and the
ifdlleato situatien -of the pers.m to whom guilt was thereby
' imputed ; for all which considerations; the great length of
liwe which had 'been Settered- to elapse, atter the conduct
e!nuplaicied of was al ledgeieto have taken place, and before
any charge was made, had .afforded more than suOicient op-
portunity ; notwithstanding which, the said Articles were
alered in the beginning of the next Session, And particulars of
.),:nplanit were then ',resented to your Lordships, containing
a new Charge of a very aggravanld nature, which, with several
' other Al tides, not leWer than, five in number,'liave been since
withdrawn,
That early in the Session'of aos a. Committee of your
Lordships was appointed, which every Peer had a right to
'alt. lid, to consider of the matter Wedged against yout Peti-
tioner, and of the evidence which might be brought in sup.
poft of the same; at which time ,yout. Petitioner was again
cnirtpelled todorego the discharge of his judicial duties, and
to attend upon your Lordships for the purpose, as he hoped,
of being then allowed to enter upon his defence; but was
then prevented a 'second time front appearing in his own de-
tente, by the nature and constitution of the said Committee,
at whose proceedings it, was not permitted to him, nor to
any person employe:i on his behalf, to be present. •
4. That after a: considerable part of the said Session had
been ern, loyed in examining into the matters then alledged
against your Petitioner, and after several witnesses had, been
examined in support of the Charges theretofore preferred
against Min, to your Petitioner's very great 'surprise, the
matter ot- complaint against him was again ahead, new-
snolelled, and changed, by withdrawing several of the par.
t ieu nos of complaint which had been.before presented, and
must strongly insisted upon as, highly criminal, by aibending
abd chaving, in material parts, those that were suffered to
remain, so as to make them ditarent in their nature anti jet.-
tea, and.'hy introducing then, for the 'first time, . other
Charges altogether new ; 131 means of which continued flue,
tuation of complaint, your- Petitioner was involved in the
most cruel perplexity, and because utterly uncertain what
the Cb trges,might tie against which he might ultimately de-

fend himself; whilst It% charaaer girls in the mean time
deeply wounded by this apparent multiplicity of Charges,
thus-publicly and -scdrnnly presented to the highest Court
of ludir;ature in the .Re.:llln, as grave and scletnn !natters cf
just complaint rhi.rinst‘one-of His MojeSty's ludges.
_ _

" That on thcizZ.l May, aos, it was moved that aki hum-,
ble Address should he p:esented to llis.fklajesty, to remove
your Petitioner trom Ins Office, grounded upon such new
altered and amended Charges ; whereupon • your Lordships
ordered,--• that your Lordships' House should' resolve itself-
into a Committee of the whole House, upon ,the Motion
made for an Address to be presented to His Majesty to re,
move your Petitioner frost his Office of Judge, and to enter
into the fans alied:ert on the said Motion'.

" That on-the 3 tst May, 130 s, and ton various subsequent
days, during,the etintinuance of the last Session, one of the
Charges stared by the Motion, contained in the Petition of
‘Vm. Arthstrong and others,'was proceeded in at your Lord-
ships' Bar; when no further progress was, made than to 'eka-
mine the witnesses produced in support of the tack alledged
in.the said Petition ; in the course of whose eviderkee_it ap-
peared, that your Petitioner's accusers and their witnesses
have been all paid the expellees incurred- by them, in prose-
cuting their coMplaima, out. of the P oft! lc M4ney.
" Your Petitioner fed s himself bound to state to your Lor-
dships, that several 'or the remaining Charges would probably,'
from the nature td inc allegations Contained therein, occupy
more of your Lolaships' tiinethati,that which hasbeetn taus
heard in part.
" Your Petitioner, under these circumstances,
.feels him-
self called upon tp state most respectfully to your Lordship's
the many grievous ilardOlips which result to him front pro-
ceedings which are novel iii their nature, and harassing by their
delay—which subject his.. char4ter to continued public oblo-
quy which .he has had no opportunity to remove or repel, and
which are almost ruinous to his privatefortune ; the pressure;
of which is the more severely felt by him, inasmuch as the-
expences of his Accusets have been defrayed out of the public
Treasury. .
"'Your Petitioner, penetrated by a, lively sense of the
many difficulties and hardships to which he has been sutt
jetted, without an tmputation 'on the uprightness or into-
grtty of his conduct, wounded in his personal and judicia)
feeltags, and still more deeply affected by the embarrassment
so long suspended over the Administration of I ustice, at this
advanced period of the third Session irkwhich his name his
been coupled with Parliamentary Accusation ;
-." Humbly prays your Lordships to consider the nature-and
circumstances of has case, anti to make such orders therein as
to your Lordships' Wisdom and justice shall seem meet.
" And your Petitioner will-ever Tray,
(Signed) " LUKE

Lord dRENVILLE
I said, whilst their Lordships
were occupied by the' Impeachment brought before
them by the House of Commons, it was evidently
impossible for them to resume the consideration of
the case of Mr. Justice Fox. That •business haying
been brought to -a conclusion, it now became aq ties-
tion, wLethor it was expedient or proper to resume
the' hearing of the evidence on the Charges against:
Mr. Justice Fox. Upon this subje6t he was deci-
dedly of opinion, that that House was not the pro.=
per place for the discuSsion of. such Charges. That
House had no, original criminal jurisdidion,,aon to,
attempt to give it any such jurisdidien was to con;
found the power given by 'the Constitution, and to'
establish a precedent highly dangerous 'and inimical
to the true interests of justice. Their lordships,
except in matters 'relating, to their own privileges,
could only .try persons Upon Criipinal Charges
brought before them, upon Impeachment by the
House of Commons, who, in that case, formed the
Grand Inquest of the Nation. The High Court of
Parliament was ai' formed for the trial of offences
thus found by, the (rand Inquest—tut as in the or-
dinary Courts the-Jurors could not ad as Judges, or
the Judges as Jurors, so the High Court of Par-
liament was also bound by rules founded upon es-
tablishea principles, and their Lordships could not
constitutionally unite the fun6tiops of Judges and
that .of a Grand Inquest, Na -precedent was to
be found to san&ion such a line_ of conduct ; the
only precedent there , was upon the subjed. was,
the case' of Chief Justice 'Holt, who, when ar-
raigned in that House for some part of his condu&
as Judge,, answered, treat he was bound .by his
oath to ad as Judge-according to the laws and to his,
conscience, and that the House of Lords could not
take cognizance of his' dcindlia_wi)mt aging in that
capacity ; which answer was acquiesced in by the
Ileuse, and thus the precedent "vas decidedly against
the mode of prOiceedinc, which had, in the case of
Mr. Justice Fox, been adopted by the House. That
House, he was, clearly of opinion, Could not try Mr.
Justice Fox upon the charges preferred against him,
-unless those charges were Brought before them by
impeachment. What must be the proceeding upon
the supposition that they might in the result deem
that Learned Judge unfit to continue any longer in
his Office ? It mtists be an Address to His Majesty
'to remoye him from his Office. This must, of
course, be a deliberative-proceeding in their 'legis-
lative capacity, and thus they would be in the in-
consistent situation of first trying judicially, and then
being unable to pronounce any other judgment than
a resolution deliberated/upon in their legislative ca-
pacity. It might also happen, if such a mode of
proceeding were continued ;to he adopted by the
House, that aftdr they bad investigated charges of a ,
tsimilar description, the Ho\ise cif Commons might,
upon the very same charges, bring up an impeach-
Ment against the individual -accused, and thus their
Lordships would find themselves in the predicament
of having to try thqe Charges which they had al-
ready prejudged. It might be, said that the Clause
in .the A& of Parliament, stating that a Judge could
only be removed by' an Address of both. Houses;
would be nugatory; unless some such mode `as the
present were adopted for investigating Charges made
against a Judge; but he would rather that ' any ,
Clause in an Ad of Parliament should remain un-
aded upon than that the Principles of the Constitu7
tion should be violated. He could easily conceivef
however, cases in which that Clause might he carried✓
into effe6t ; it might happen that a Judge, incapa-
citated bY corporeal or mental infirmity, from execut-
ing the Duties of his Office, might still, from ca-
price
or other Motive, refuse to resign, then it might
be expedient- for Parliathent to interfere according
to the enactment of the Clause, and address His
Majesty for the, removal of such a Jude ; -or it
might also, if the case 'should happen, of a Judge
being convicted in a Court of Justice of any crime
which rendered it unfit that' he Should continue to
administer jtisrice ; but for the House to take cog-
nizance originally of Criminal Charges was wholly
foreign to the don<titution. If such a mode of pro-
ceeding was sanctioned by the House, it was impos-
sible to say where it would end. Every individual,
would have the same right to present Petitions; com-
plaining of the condu& of any Judge in any particu-'
tar instance which displealed them, as those persons
had who petitioned against Mr. Justice Fox ; and
the Hduse might thus be continually occlpied in
investigating Charges thus brought by individuals
against Judges, merely on account of some decision,
or some expression, with which those indiViduals
were not pleased. As to convenience, it must 'be
evident to their Lordships, that at this ad ced
period of the Session, it was impossible re-
if

some the consideration of the Charges against Mr.
,JUstice Fox with any prospect of bringitig it to a
conclusion:—This, however; was the least ground of
objection, as upon the constitutional grounds he had
before stated, he decidedly objected, to the further
consideration of the proceedings. - It was his 'inten-
tion to postpone the consideration of the subjea for'
three months, to a period When'their Lord Ships.
might hope•-:they would 'not be sitting, but which
Motion in its
,terms would not decide any ques-
tion upon the subjea.. His Lordship concluded' by
making a Motion to that effet.
The Marquis of ABERC,VRAT'said, he had heard
the Noble Lord with great pain and regret.' If, as
was to be apprehended from the great weight_and
authority which the Noble Lord had in that House,
a negative was to be put upon the further proceed-
•ingsin the case of Mr. Justice Fox; be feared that
there would soon be sufficient cause to lament -the
precedent established by such 'a decision, and that
the Noble- Lord would ere long repent it. He
would hot attempt to reply to the arguments adduced
by the Noble Lord for the purpose of proving that
these Charges ought not to have been, brought be-
fore the House, as he considered that the time was
past for such ,‘ an argument, the'House having re-
,peatedly decided to the contrary. They had or-
dered Witnesses repeatedly to attend to give their
evidence ; a similar order had been again made this
SesSion, and, WitnesseS were now in attendance.
These Witne,sses_ had travelW many a weary mile
to attend at the Bar of that' House, to claim aka
justice which was . due to them.; and now, after
having heard a part of the evidence, and gone thus
far; the proc'eeding was to be suddenly- put an end
to, the 'remainder of the Charges were not to be
investigated, and with respell to those which had,
the Learned Judge was to be deprived of the Op-
portunity- of rebutting the evidence against him.
He regretted that he must be under the necessity
of detaining their Lordships a considerable' time—
but he felt it to be his duty under the circumstances.
in which the House was now 'placed by thepresent
Motion, to call their attention to the whole of • the
evidence which related to the Charges against Mr.
Justice Fox, with .the view of putting it to them upon
the whole of the case, whether they could con-
sistently, or in justice, now suddenly, abandon,the
proceedings which they had commenced. His
Lordship then entered into, a very long and minute
detail of the Charges against Mr. Justice Fox, and
the evidence in support of theM, commenting upon'
each Charge as he went on ; but as it is altogether
an exparte stateMent,, we consider it due to the cha-
raEter of the, Learned Judge to refrain- from fel-
, lowing the Noble Marquis in this part of his
Speech,
Lord ELDON followed on the .same side. Re
maintained that the powers of that House, from
which they had no right to' recede, were judicial,,,
legislative, and inquisitorial. The matter had- been
allowed to originate in that House, and they had no
power to allow it to drop without coming to an opi-
nion upon it. Even if the matter should be al-
lowed to pass over for the present Session, he should
not conceive himself warranted in allowing it to go
by during the next.
, The LORD CHANCELLOR supported the
Motion of Lord Grenville. Though the powers of
the House might be inquisitorial as well as judicial,
he apprehended that cases of complaint, in which ,
that House must ultimately\ be the Judges, would
always ,originate with greater propriety in another
place. -
Earl MOIRA was of a similar opinion, and' en-
forced the necessity of allowing a person' 'who was
not deprived of his judieial,fundiens to go on in the
undisturbed administration of them till such time as'
a regular Charge was exhibited before a proper
Tribunal.,
Earl BUCKINGHAMSHIR F.opposed the Motion.
Lord AUCKLAND enforced the arguments he had
formerly adduced .in support of a, suspension of all
farther proceedings before the Honse.
Earl H:ttlDwt cu conceived, that not only justice
to the Country, but'to the. Honourable Judge, ren-
dered it, necessary that the Charges should now be
proceeded in. -
Earl SPENCER agreed in the Motion of•his Noble
Friend, having from the beginning been tif opinion
that the case could not properly originate in that
House:
Earl WESTMORLAND maintained that the Charge
being once 'entertained in that House, and •there
being nothing to exclude the originating 6f a pro-
ceeding there which could not in its then stage be
said to be criminal, they were bound to proceed in it.
The Question being called for, the House di-
vided—'
For L6rd Grenville's Motion - 25
Against it - 16 ,
Majority - - - —9
Adlouined till to-morrow. .

HOUSE' OF COMMONS.

THURSDAY, JUNE 19.

The Assessed Taxes Bill, the Thread Lace Bill, the
Duke of 'Grafton's Agreement Bill, the Prussian
Yarn Bill; the Gibraltar and Malta: Postage Bili, and"
the Irish Mine Bill were reported, and ordered to be
read, a third time. a