The Sun.
London, England, 1833-08-14 00:00:00

the Hon. Member fur Oxford. He did so with the coil-
, urrence of the Hon. Member for Colchester himself. He
did ts,,t think the House of Commons a fit arena for
discussion upon private character, hut after the manner in
which this matter had heen mooted, he hoped there
would he no objection to the appointment of a Select Corn
znittee to investigate the matter next session.
Mr. D. W. HARVEY said he had not shown
any restlessness whatever on the subject, because he die
not consider that his character wanted vindication. Every
Member who entered that House brought with him his
credentials in the confidence of his constituents. No one
could show a prouder testimonial of this nature than
hims It for this Was the sixth Parliament to which he
had been returned for the same place, and that the
place where he was horn, where he had been
known from his childhood, and where he had not a single
acre of land to influence a single vote. But if any
gentleman wished for an explanation of Any act of
his life, he was reedy to give it.—(Hear, bear.)
When the Hon. Member for St. Albans gave his notice
some weeks back, he took the great liber•y of requesting
14 or 15 Members of this House. upon whose friendship t.e
had no clam, and whom he selected either because they
were connec ed with the legal profession, or because
they belonged to extreme parties, to listen to his state-
ment. They hail done ao, and he was able to state that
those gentlemen had come to the unanimous reeoluton that
his conduct as a gentleman was in every respect satisf wtory.
The reasons why he was anxious not to enter at any great
length into the subject at preeen. were these :—Last session
it was brought forward on a motion to refer the matter to
a Select Committee, and it was opposed, hut so strong
was the feeling of the House in his favour, that it was lost
by only a small majority. After that he renewed the
subject, and the Attorney- General of that day prom'sed
that it should undergo inquiry before the Common Law
Commission. He then appeared before the Common Law
Commissioners, and he le.rnerl with regret that while
they were prep :red to receive any statement which would
justi.v them in recommending an alteration in the sysoem
of admitting and rej sting persons applying to be called to
the Bar, it was not their province to go into any
particolar case, so as to enable them to exprees any oninion
upon it. He then presented a petition to the Twelve
Judges, praying them either to look into the matter them-
selves, or to direct the B nchers again to examine into the
case. The Judges said in answer that as he had not made
another application to the Bencliere, they could not
interfere.—( Hear.) Conceiving that that measure
implied a recommendation to apply again to the Benchers,
he did so. and the benchers very promptly named a day
when he could be heard, and also permitted him to have
conned, and a short hand writer. Many Alenibers
of this House having taken an interest in the case, about
twelve of them attended with him, and requested to be
admitted to the Benchers' room. Th« Bench• rs, however,
came to a resolution not to admit those Memhers. He
mentioned that merely to show that he had ever anxiously
wished to have the whole circumstances investigated, that
he was desirous to have Members of this House to be wit-
nesses of what passed. It appeared to him most extraordi-
nary that while this House exercised a sovereign
jurisdiction over all matters and things, and brought
within its cognizance evelthing th it took place in
Court. of .Itietire, there should exist one tribunal—
Lord ALTHORP rose to order. He had not inter-
rupted the Hon. and Learned Gentleman while hie state-
ment was merely personal ; but he begged leave to
suggest, that it would be better, as there
Was no question before the House, to refrain from
atteekirig any other potty
Mr D. W. HARVEY did not wish to approach to an
att sek on the &ocher., but be wished to state wheel hail
passed, for the information of the public. Under sorb
stircurnet.ncee, he had thought that he should have been
comprotnisMg his own dignity had he not protested
against she conduct of the Benchers. He had since
written to the Benchers that he was sail ing to enter upon
the ca-e, provided they would permit one reporter to be
present from the public press and one from the county of
Essex. He never ',yenta withh4l his repeated protests
against what I e knew to be an act of injustice. If any
Air tribunal, consisting of three, five, or seven persons,
slid net come to a unanimous resolution that he had been
ire 'tell with great injustice, he would, on the ye,' next
day, nano.. for a new writ for the borough of Colchester.
S,r J. SCARLETT would state that the decision of
the Benchers had been confirmed by the twelve Ju-fgee,
and whatever blame attached to the one must be shared
by the other.
Mr. 1) W. HARVEY—The Hon. and Learned Gen-
tlemen had s that he would abstain from any observa-
tions on the case; but no Hon. Member of that House
was more capable than he was of conveying in a few
words an unjust and injurious imputation. What the
Hon. and Learned Member had stated was not true. The
merits of the ease were not referred to the 12 Judges.
Judges of England formed an open Court, and it was
a libel on the Judges to say that they could sit in a Court,
the principle of which was exclusion. What the Judges
had slid was, that they could not depart from the decision
of the Bencliere, whether the statements were true or
false. His Counsel, Mr. Brougham and Mr. Denman,
had been weitieg outride the door with 20 is itnesses in
his behalf, and the Judges 11,01 come to a resolution not to
examine any witnesses whatever.—(Hear.)