The Sun.
London, England, 1831-04-20 00:00:00

THE TIMES NEWSPAPER.

The Earl of LIMERICK said—Presuming, my Lords,
upon the very kind indulgence which I received at the
hands of your Lordships yesterday. when I brought before
your Lordships what I conceived to I.e a breach of the
privileges of your Lordships' House, I am induced to en-
treat your Lordships to indulge me now for one or two
minutes, and I promise not to detain your Lordships
longer. Having already stated to your Lordships, fully,
and unreservedly, my opinion upon the subject in ques-
tion, it would be at once had taste anti bad sense if I were
to travel into the meter again ; and I rise now to assure
your Lordship* that I have no personal feeling whatever
with regard to the transaction. True it is, my Louis,
that I considered that it was through me that the dignity
of your Lordships' House was attacked,—but it was in
consequence of the attack upon that dignity, and not in
consequence of what was said of me personally, that I
brought the watter under the notice of your Lordships.
These, were the grounds upon which I acted, and if I had
it to do again, I would do precisely as I haw
Lords, I have endeavoured to save your Lordships some
-time and trouble bylooking into the precedents which have
been followed. upon similar occasions, or to which occa-
sions have given rise ; and I find that in early days very
severe penalties have been inflicted upon persons who have
been guilty of such an offenee as that which I conceive
has been committed in the present instance. However,
my Lords, lam no advocate for violent measures or for
severe penalties in any case.—(Hear.)
The LORD CHANCELLOR here interrupted the
Noble Earl, and said—l am sure, my Lords, that the Noble
Earl means nothing but what is quite right, in the course
which he is now pursuing; but allow me to suggest to
your Lordships that the course is not consistent with the
order of your Lordships' proceedings. Your lordships
yesterday agreed to an order, namely, " That the printer
of The Times newspaper do attend this House to•mor-
rowat four o'clock." • Now ,that order is peretnptery—
(Hear, hear)—and I take it that in the first instance your
Lordships must be informed whether that order has been
complied with, and whether the person is in attendance.
—(Hear, hear.) With this, I apprehend,your Lot dships
must commence your proceedings in this matter, unless
the Noble Earl intends to move that the order be dis-
charged, and that I do not understand to be the Noble
Earl's intention.

The Earl of LlMERlCK—Certainly, my Lords, I have
no such intention, any more than I have the intention of
pursuing any course which is inconsistent with the order
of your Lordships' pro eedings. I will therefore very
shortly bring my observations upon the subject to a con-
clusion. My Lords, I have no personal feeling in the mat-
ter. I took it up solely for the sake of the House, and
with the House I now leave it.

Mr. Pdhwin, the Yeowan•Usher, here appeared at the
bar, and said—" My Lords, the 'minter of the Times
newspaper in attoadaner."

The LORD CHANCELLOR—Let him be brought to
the bar.

Mr. Lawson then appeared at the bar. •
The LORD CHANCELLOR—What is your name?
Mr. Lawson—John Joseph Lawson.
The LORD CHANCELLOR—Are you the printer of
the Times newspaper?
Mr. Lawson-1 am, nay Lord.
The LORD CHANCELLOR—Look at the paper
which w.ll ba handed to you, at the paragraph which will
be pointed oct to you.—(Here Mr. Cour tenayshowed Mr
Lawson the Times newspaper which contained the para-
graph complained of.)—Are you the printer of the paper
in -which that paragraph is inserted ?
Mr. Lawson—l um, rny Lord.
The LORI) CHANCELLOR—You may withdraw.
Mr. Lawson having withdrawn front the bar, one of the
Clerks of the table read the following paragrapb:,
Yet mean, cruel, and atrocious as every civilized mind must
consider the doctrine, that Treland has no need of poor laws, or
some equivalent for them—hateful and abominable as is such a
screen for inhumanity—there are men, or . things with human
pretensions, nay, with lofty privileges, who do not blush to treat
the mere proposal of establishing a fund for the relief of the
diseased or helpless Irish with brutal ridicule and almost impious
scorn. Will any man credit that an Irish absent Lord could say
what he is reEorted to have uttered in the House of Peers last
night, when Lord Rosebery presented a petition, praying that a
compulsory tax on land might be introduced into Ireland, to-
wards alleviating her poor ? We shall not name him—because
the House of Lords is armed with a thing called a Bar,' and
other disagreeable appendages. But there are Members of that
House who surprise nobody by declaring their indifference to
popular odwm,' especially when they are at such a distailce
ftom Ireland as to insure the safety of their persons."
Alter the reading of the above paragraph there was a
short pause, and then

Lord WYNFORD rose and said, " My Lords, I for one
beg leave to express my obligation to the No'ble Earl near
me, for having brought this matter under the consideration
of your Lordship., and"—
Here there arose a murmur in the House. We heard
the ward " bar," and we suppose that some Noble Lord
must have moved " that the bar be cleared," for Mr.
Courtenay leaving the Lble, desired the messengers to clear
the bar. All the strangers below the bar, not excepting
the reporters, were then put out of the House. The
Members of the House of Commons, who were standing
at the foot of the throne, were allowed to remain.

[After a short intet val, in which their Lordships de-
termined that the paragraph was a false and scandalou
libel, Mr. Lawson was again called in.
On his being placed at the bar, the Loan CHANcat.r.on
informed him, that the House had determined that the
paragraph, which had appeared in the paper of which he
was the printer, was a false and scandalous libel, and that
their Lordships were then ready to hear any thing which
he might have to urge in his defence.
Mr. Lawson commenced by expressing his regret that
here should have appeared in the Times newspapSr, 01
which he was the printer, any paragraph calculated td give
offence either to their Lordship's in general, or to the Noble

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