The Sun.
London, England, 1838-03-01 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 1838.

cline. before the House. It appears that some gentlemen have
teat sweet oblivious antidote, that makes them forget two and
tsso make four, or some proposition of equal certainty.
Thus the writer goes or. " To ensure a favourable Committee,
every principle of decency and justice arc notoriously and
openly prostituted."—( Loud cheers.) This has been in print
fur twelve months; and now I am assailed for taking up this
thi is when it is pressing home to the bosoms of those whose
rights arc most dear to me. This is what the public say ; and
set you come with your vindication of yourselves, with a ma
jeiiey of nine, dee-hiring that to be true which the public
declares to be utterly untrue.—( Cheers.) He goes on :
" The s leninity of an oath and public opinion have
little effect on many when the interest of one of their pasty is
at stake."—( Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") That is what the
public say, and what becomes of your vindication, or your
reprimand of me ?—(Cheers.) I have expressed no regret for
what I have uttered—l have retracted nothing—l retract
nothing.—( Loud cheering for some time.) Sir, I have risen
to move the appointment of a Committee of investigation,
which I had not an opportunity of doing before. Let me meet
Your resolution by es idence.—( Loud cheers.) Give me a
your
it be selected in a way you think most
likely to obtain the opinion of the public—let the lead-
ing men of each party be upon it.—(Hear and cheers.)
Let it be nominated by the- Speaker. Ought this House to
submit to this history of it given to the public ? It is not only
to the organs of both parties I refer to—l refer to the delibe-
rate publications of your own House given to you. I vvill
examine before that Committe the Members of this House—
the Learned Counsel who practise here, and who said to ins
—it is in vain for you to struggle; you see the Committee will
decide everything against us.—( Hear, hear.) They will at
once say, that when 7 to 4 arc struck you may instantly
send your witnesses borne—we will gee on with your case,
but they will strike to-morrow.—( Clear, hear.) I have heard
that said recently—( Hear, hear,)—and now that being so, I
will put it to the honour and candour of the gentlemen who
hear me, if they will persevere in that course, and not give us
this trial. You have your public tribunals to try everything
unstained and untainted. You find in those tribunals Gentle-
men among you, whatever their politics may be, who perform
their duty with impartiality. I will say that of you, English
Geatlemen, who conic among us in the judicial seat. You have
therefore unstained and untainted benches of justice. You
have impartial juries—you can remove a trial from place to
place—you can, what we call, change the venue—you can get
counties free from all bias and party attachment—you can get
the judges to preside and correct the errors of juries if they
find a verdict against evidence, or the weight of evidence—
but your present tribunal, who is to correct it? Nobody.
It is the most absolute tribunal in the world. Law you pro-
fess to know nothing of; and what can be more dangerous
than for a body to take upon itself to decide upon law who is
utterly ignorant of it? You sages who have laid down rules
that no man shall be deprived by law of his life or property
without evidence, what is your evidence ? What would you
require ? This gentleman goes on to state that whatever one
on one side wishes to have, they have only to suggest it to a
friendly Counsel that lie may ask for it, and which a Counsel
in a Court of Justice would be ashamed to ask. I am ready to
prove my case. I call on you to let me prove my ease.—( Hear.)
If that Committee decide that I have made a false charge, there
is no submission too humble which will not proudly be bowed
to by me. If that Committee states it is proved that I have
made a mis-statement, there is no reparation I shall not
make which so humble an individual as myself may be capable
of. But I cannot stand by the notion that any censure is in-
flicted ou me by any vote of a majority that will not come to
the evil and eradicate it.--(Much cheering.) I will not say
all—several may not come—but many will come down
to-morrow, and be reproached in their clubs, if they happen
to be away when their ballot is going on. All they want to
have said is Oh if you had been in your place—if you
had been there—the majority would have bocu the other way."
A morality of party against the morality of justice !—( Cheers. )
I have heard a great deal against religion here. What scuffles
and scrambles have been made for the purpose of throwing
out observations against religion in one part of the House and
in another, and what sanctimoniousness of demeanour has
been observed on other occasions !—( I tear, hear.) This, then,
is a question of trying a matter fairly, after being sworn on the
Holy Word of God. Where then are those men of pure
sanctity? Why don't they come forward nosy, and adjourn
their Sabbath-days' Bills, it' we are to hear any more of those
Bills—adjourn them for a week or ten days, and come to
a real vindication of their calling on the sanctity of the name
of the Eternal God.—( Hear, hear.) Sir, I mean to more that
this Committee shall be formed, and I shall submit upon that to
anything which the House may think fit. I have repented of
nothing—l have retracted nothing.—( Hear.) I mean not to
use harsh or offensive language.—( Cries of " Oh, oh," from
the Tory side, at which the Hon. and Learned Gentleman
paused, as if surprised, which produced profound silence.
After a brief pause the Hon. and Learned Gentleman proceeded. )
I admire their attention to a subject which introduces the
name and sanction of the Deity.—( Hear, hear.) I repeat
what I have said, but I wish I could find terms less offensive
in themselves and equally significant.—( Hear, hear.) lam
bound to re-assert what I have said, for I am convinced of
nothing by a vote.—( Hear, hear.) Sir, I now move for the
appointment of a Committee.
The SPEAKER.—Mr. O'Connell, it is contrary to the
rules of the House to move for a Committee without having
giver, notice.
Mr. O'CONNELL.—If that is the rule, Sir, I now give
notice that I will move for the Committee to-morrow.—( Hear.)
Lord C A STL EREAGII then rose, but gave way to
Lord JOHN RUSSELL, who said—Sir, I rise to move
that your address be inserted in the Journals of the House.
LONDON ELECTION COMMITTEE.
Mr. CURRIE, the Chairman of the London Election
Committee, appeared at the Bar, and being asked by the
Speaker what he had there, said—A report, Sir, which, as
Chairman of the London Election Committee I am directed
to make to the House. I am directed to state, that,
on meeting this day, and before the Committee proceeded
to business, Mr. Sanderson, one of the Members, stated
that it was only this morning he discovered that he had
ed fome
voted at the last election for the city of London.—( Cheers,
laughter, and cries of " Oh, oh," which continu
minutes.) When the noise subsided, Mr. C. continuer so
d
And Mr. Sanderson added, that he took the earliest opportu.
nity to apprise the Committee of the fact.—( Hear.) Upon
being informed of that, the Committee adjourned to to-morrow,
and ordered me to report the fact to the House immediately.
Mr. SANDERSON then rose amidst cheers, laughter,
and cries of " Order, order." He said—l feel that some ex-
planation and apology is due from me to the House on this
occasion.—( Hear, h°ear.) It is now nearly twelve years
since I first bad the honour of sitting as a Member of
this House—(" Hear, hear," from the Tory benches)
--and during the whole of that time I have been
an elector of the City of London. Bat from the
circumstance of the election for Colchester
baring been
fixed fur the same time as that for the City of London, I was
always precluded from voting in London, but at the last
election, and I thought it had been as before.— ("
Oh, oh I
cheers, laughter, and cries of " Order.") I thought it had
"
been so at the last election, and that I had not voted. I state
that in my own justification. But on referrieg to the poll-
books of my own accord, and without any suggestion from any
one else—( Hear and a laugh)—l found that I did vote,
and I immediately hastened to apprise the Committee of
the circumstance.-_( Opposition cheers.) Sir, I sincerely
regret the inconvenience which I have caused to the House
on this occasion, and I assure the House that the error was
most unintentional—( Hear, bear from ;the
Toriee)—and I
trust that every Hon Member will acquit me of any desire to
conceal the factiof my having voted._( Hear, hear, from the
Tories.) I know not what the decision of the House may be.
But upon reference to the poll-books this morning of my own
accord, I found it was not so—that I did vote at the last
election. I immediately acquainted the Committee with the
fact. I sincerely regret the inconvenience which I have oc-
casioned. I assure the House it was an unintentional error ;
I hope every Hon. Member will acquit me of any desire
to be retained on the Committee while disqualified
from serving.—(hear, hear.) I know not what course the
House may take regarding me--for my own part, I desire my
name may be struck off the Committee.—( Hear, hear.)
Mr. W YNN said a clause had been inserted in the Act
respecting Election Committees—the 30th clause—expressly
Members,of
any
electionto meet this case, by the desire of Lord Colchester, enacting
that "eleven,:warn
n petition,
at
tiletable'swhaellll beand
deemedtruly t o
try the merits
and taken to be a Select Committee, legally appointed
to try and determine the merits of that election petition,
from and after the time of such Committee having been sworn
at the table." Now, he thought that in this case, the Hon.
Members of the Committees having been sworn at the table,
they acre legally, eonstituted to try the petition ; and the
House could not meddle with it.—( Hear, hear, from the Op-
position benches ) Now, %chile the house took c I
are to guar(
against the possibility of this occurring through favouritism
toward any individual, they allowed gentlemen, in consequence
of death or dangerous illness of a near relative, to be excused from
attendance on the Committee. The present ectSC, he thought,
came within the limits of the rule ; for they should remember
that the vote of a member who had polled at the election was
likely to be questioned by the Committee, and he would be
obliged to be in attendance during its sittings, to verify Ida
statement. He did not therefore think that the House would
be straining the rule, by bringing the present case within it.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL said that after the statement
made by the Hon. Member, he had only to say that be
entirely agreed with him, that the bye-law of the Committee
must continue in force, and must not be interfered with in
hatsoever. The Honourable Gentleman would no
any way w
doubt have to attend the Committee, to verify his statement.
Ile thought this consideration would induce the House, on
the application of the Hon. Member himself, to be allowed to
Attend and verify his own vote.
Mr. Sanderson': statement was then read by the Clerk as
follows :—" I was not aware when I was drawn on the Com-
mittee that I had vi ted at the electioe"
On the Illation of Mr. WYNN, Mr. Sander; rn was then
excused from farther attendance on the London Election
Committee.
Mr. HUME, in answer to an Hon. Member, stated that he
had postponed his motion for the second reading of the County
Rates Bill till that day fortnight.
QUARTER SESSIONS.
Lord J. RUSSELL said he had a notice on tl e paper for
to4noreow for the introduction of a Bill with regard to
the adminiatration of justice at Quarter Sessions. It was
most important that he should bring in the Bill on that sub-
ject, and after stating the grounds fur his doing 50, it was his
intention to move that the further consideration of the measure
should be adjourned to Monday,
FIRST FRUITS AND TENTHS.
On the motion of the LORD ADVOCATE the Small
Debts ( Scotland) Bill was read a second time.
On the motion that the House g..) into Committee on the
the First Fruits and Tenths Bill,