The Sun.
London, England, 1822-07-29 00:00:00

riot stopped. Ido not wish to excite airy unpleasant fealing ;
, say it is high time these things were stopped; and I do call upon
you, assisting as far as yOu can, not lending yourselves to any
thing, to put a stop to them. If these things are to go on, for
aught I know, we may come to this, that the Lord of the
Manor may say I have the right of selecting the Jury—these
• things may be locked up for 20 years, there may be a plesenta
ment and no Bailiff; unless there is a Jury. Only conceive the
case, it is exactly what is mentioned in this book, unless a per-
son has' the courage or the property a contest these points, it
goes on for 20 years, and then at once, unless you can call wits
nesies to shew it was not so, the Jury is to be asked to say that
that is evidence of immemorial usage ; 'so that at last it may
very likely come to this, that the Lord may appoint himself
the Mayor, and you may gat on so, that the Lord shall ap-
point himself to be the Member of Parliament. That was
done till it was stopped early in the history of our country.
There was a case in Buckinghamshire, where a lady, under
her hand and seal, appointed the Members to serve for
that Borough ; we shall come to that sooh,' if 'We'so, on, as
my Learned Friends wish you, so that perhaps we shall
have all the old ladies in the kingdom sending Members
to Parliament: I know not where we may not wander to,
if such doctrines are to prevail ; I therefore ask you, whether
you are satisfied upon this evidence that there has been an im-
memorial ;practice ; that is the point you will have to decide
upon. The question will be upon what facts you found that
conclusion, and that will be a fit subject matter to put upon
the Record ; but there will be no necessity of putting it upon
the Record if you say you are not satisfied that the evidence in
the cause amounts to proof,—that this which is'bad as far as it
goes has prevailed since the year 1193. Now, in conclusion,
good God, upon what evidence is this to stand ? • where are
their Court Rolls.? . where are all their documents ? where are
their presentments as far back as the last century, and the cen-
tury before ? where is that evidence which cannot be seen be-
cause it has been written by those who have long since passed
to their graves ? I admit if you can shew that the stream has
run for a considerable time, and you may trace it to a very re-
mote period, that is good cause to go upon ; but that must
be by very different proof to what you have had on the other
side to-day., The evidence is too light, and will afford no such
conclusion. Is it to be said, as I have sometimes heard it
said, why do not people come forward and say it was not so.
I kasow it is very easy to say it might have been done twenty
years ago, but I dare say you will agree . with me that
. a man requires a little courage to attack a fortress of this de-
scription ; but it does happen that in 1818 there is a man found
bold enough " to unship the old interest ;" and I think he has
done it,—it is one sustained by no very strong' means : and
then I say, where are the papers of 1801 and 1800-1790 and
1600 ' Where are the rolls of the manor ? You know, the
first thing a Steward does is to preserve all these documents ;
and all you have from them are these presentments of the Jury,
—not a single document is produced—nothing but this pale-
faced paper offered as evidence in support of ancient rights-
They ought to have- had parchments and papers yellow with
age, and musty, and almost illegible. We have generally seen,
an these kinds of cases, old men with magnifying-glasses endea-
vouring to make out ancient documents; but here is nothing,
but a presentment in as fair a hand-writing of the clerk as ever
, he wrote out his master's bill in.
The second point I shall trouble you upon very shortly:
that is, Whether the Steward can be permitted to.remain with
the Jury while electing the Mayor and returning the officers.—
Only conceive the power this gives the Steward. He is first to
nominate the Jury, and having selected them, he is to be pre-
sent to see that they do not get out of their course. Not only
that, but although it stands upon the evidence that the oath of
the Jury is, that they are to keep secret the King's counsel and
their own, yet, in defiance of their duty, the Steward is to be
there, and t claims of pre Steward is to
hiss there also. Not only,
Mr. Hector to besent, but lerk. Ido not know
whether he claims to be there—hut there he is : he must have
his nose in the business.. We are come to a pretty pass,—if they
are to have just whom they please, and what .they
.please,
when they are to fix upon the person to be the-returning of-,
taer for the proprietor of the borough. But what becomes
of the oath that they are to keep secret their own counsel ?T—
-hese are my observations ; how far they may have struck
his Lordship's mind or-yours I cannot say, but give me leave
to tell you, and Ido it most sincerely, no one does deprecate
more than I do any violent eruption into that which is by law
established in this country ; but nothing will tend to prevent
that so much as bringiug back things to the state where they
tormerly were, and where they ought to be. I know of no
better mode of doing that than through that tribunal I have
now the honour of addressing—there it will be done quietly,
properly, and safely. Ido say to you most distinctly, and I
should be a coward in my own opinion if I did not boldly avow
it, that by the office, which ought to be exercised fairly, when
exercised partially and unjustly, people are deprived of their
rights in order to support that which is called the old interest.
Now I am contending for the old interest ; the old interest is
that the Jury shall be properly selected. Th
asat is 'reasonable;
but there is evidence that that which is unreonable has taken
Place for twenty years past in this borough
with these observations I leave the case in your hands, and
You will say that in future this Jury is to be appointed
dam, 171 in which Juries are appointed throughout the king-
select t4te officer hamed by the general law of the land to
the oureza• That officer is the bailiff,—he has been deprived of
' one thcata. of that ,discretion vested in him; and if there be
with til,ng beyond another which is to be deprecated and viewed
"e great alarm, and guarded against by every possible
—ems
an a ? end brought to light, if ever it takes place, it is where
if la!na:if is done to invade or impede the course of justice; for
aaa"a be one palladium of our rights more valuable than
alrater, it is that right of Trial by Jury, and the protection it
ids to me and every human Being in this country.
,s.nr, ;Adis
of the Jury—Whether
Ateheson. does right or not in invading this Borough,
a'',f'aeleh has been at peace for many years, is not for us to decide.
_ have to try the queqtions upon tills record—here they
are brought, and you are to dispose of them. Some things have
aeeellaraid which I think it necessary to lay out of your consi-
dorauort—it is said they ought to have called the Steward. I
teixia
choice. My
that they were compelled to call him ; it Iva, matter
My Learned Friend might have called him, and if
dealt with
had refused to open his mouth, you would have
itzsaut with it in the manner you pleased. A case has been al-
'Led to which took place at Gosport a few years ago. I hap-
eited to be the Mover of that motion in the Kines Bench.—
thh that ease there was an express affidavit that the Bailiff of
);_ Borough had the return of the Jury. Another matter has
„aMentioned ; it is said these be-laws look to the interests
aa,`"e Lord. Ido not see any objecton to that, but if there
nal any ifswould only amount to this, that 'the particular pre-
Zoutnent would be void ; but, in my judgment, it is not void.
,;,?stare trying a case of a Borough by prescription, and stou
th.understand that there is no Charter whatever by which
aulBorough is constituted—all its Members are Members by
of•-te--the Borough is a Borough by usage—all the Officers
e Borough are Officers by usage—every thing they do is
401!!a.ge—and custom is the life of the whole—the law of the
and whatever is the custom, that is ,to govern the
to
boengh, unless the particular custom stated here shall turn out
lo Your judgment so absurd, so bad, as to be wholly il-
iiayat.n that ground ; that is, supposing I was to tell you so.
iluty°llt fi the custom existed immemorially, it will be my
nethtell you whether it is bad or. not ; it is for you to say
er° these customs are or are not immemorial. My Leaan-
osmtee_riend the Serjeant has stated that, upon some occasion or
gone_the late Chief Justice has said that the Judges have
are car far in favour of presumption. I can only say that we
the uge.4 to resort to presumptive conclusions every day in
eatiuneoea,m the ordinary administration of justice. All our
ieetrit taw is usage; there is no statute law upon the sub-
that a' ere is an immene qntit of rights in this country
Ja,tePend upon usage,s and n uaothiny g else ; but what the Chief
thiZe meant when he used these words I do not know, but I
the Must have been applicable to the then transaction before
thae4ort. Lord Coke, whose name you have heard mentioned,
tat 4 ,Y°ll may not have looked into his book, (there is not a
ed book existing) tells you that" slight evidence unanswer-
taia thing
. as co,,2llProved to you,p Why Ire you t 9 infer that the usage
letea ? I say, if you find a thing proved to have ex-
Othe,
3. certain period, I will say 60 years, and nothing on the
1%111041e to shew the contrary, it is a presumption of fact
that aa'a e Jury ought to make, that the thing did exist from
ell arattod, and from all time. You see here the evidence is
his
itil„,britte aide, and not one tittle of fact offered in opposition
iane he other, and will you say when you come to look at
to evlloo_eace that there is no evidence of usage ; if there is
evaleo_ lace, and no answer given to it, the principle of slight
Passibi amounting to cogent proof applies as strongly as
proved But I should look at this case, and see whether it is
!Neil" 0): the evidence or not • but whatever it is, it is all the
which by
to the cause, and it is' not answered. This is a case
4Pot 10ea back only 20 years • but upon that ground, and
thole htlieeaat /dud of evidence it is, that rights over and over again
,etart
aa_established. It has been said in this case, that the
probVlembers of Parliament depends upon it ; it is high-
t'ettrte ie2, and I dare say it is so. I believe, in many cases,
so eoaaavaaatave existed long before the right of sending Mem-
Z°Me aerhament has been annexed to them, and we know
nowynae, savwere earlier, and others later—many' of 'them were
lsraatio.h eit within memory. Then there is another ob-
a-arii, have
the early history of Parliament, the service in
to Ment was deemed a burthen, and the people were bound
eY the Me
Rtlees yo ambers expences. Things have varied in modern
, foramhave now men who go there willingly—there is a
Z4a es make such speeches as my friend the Serjeant
eteiaut't Honourable Members'of Parliament do not now
414 " Din London, as Serjeant Wronghead did, being six
st 100 k
ag and rightin. He was paid for it. But we
t the in question in another point of view.—