The Sun.
London, England, 1835-07-22 00:00:00

certainly to be pursued in the present instance.—( Hear,
hear.) He entertained very little doubt, that the evidence
taken before the last Committee was very similar to that
which was given befeec the Cominittee of which he was the
Chairman.
MN MILES thought if Hon. Members would wait
till the evidence was printed, they would be disposed
to deal with this individual more leniently than it
they proceeded to older him into custody without it. This,
considering the state of the individual, would be extremely de-
sirable, as probably the House might aggravate his condition
if it acted hastily with him.
Mr. HUME could assure the Hon. Member that in moving
this he had merely done it officially. He was willing to admit
that what the Hon. Member had stared was worthy of the con-
sideration of the House, aftet It had vindicated its own autho-
rity.—( Cries of " Hear.") If the authority of the House was
not sumerted, it could not administer the justice of the country.
r M. W. RIDLEY fully admitted the statement of the
non. Member for Middlesex, that the House ous?:I": `..3 vindi-
cate its own dignity, but he thought ti!:l4. vindication would
take place more effectually if it did not act till the evidence
had been printed.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL was disposed to move, as an
amendmer.L, that the motion should be put off till Friday.
If the House ordered this individual into custody, it might,
as had been stated, aggravate his state of mind, for which he
would be sorry.
Mr. II A WES thought, when the evidence was laid before
the House, it would be found to be an ample justification for
the most severe punishment being inflicted on this individual,
nor did he believe that the results anticipated by the Hon.
Member opposite, as to the aggravation of his state of mind,
would take place. This impending delay would be quite as in-
lurious to Mr. Keith as any present proceeding. Ile (Mr.
Hawes) was fully aware of the circumstances stated by the
Hon. Member for Somersetshire, ar.d it was this knowledge
enabled him to state, that delay would not, in his opinion, be
the wisest course.
The question was then put that the motion for directing
the Sergeant-at-Arms to take Mr. Keith into custody be
postponed to Friday, which was agreed to.
Mr. P. M. STE WART trusted the House would indulge
him for a few moments on a matter pesonal to himself. The
concluding sentence of the Report condemned the Chairman of
the Committee, for signing a warrant for the arrest of Pil-
grim, one of the witnesses, as being contrary to the usual
practice, which was to resort to that House for the warrant of
the Speaker. That sentence was a gentle hint to himself (Mr.
P. M. Stewart), and he pleaded guilty to it. The House was
aware of the difficulty they had experienced in tracing Pilgrim
at home or abroad, and when a summons out of five or six
had at length been served upon him at Norwich, he had been
arrrested under a warrant from the Magistrates of that town.
It was then suggested that he (Mr. Stewart) should
send a summons to the Constable of Norwich, but he had
doubted whether such a proceeding would be sufficient
and, without much consideration, had issued the warrant. He
believed the Chairman of a Committee could not sign a war-
rant, and that he (Mr. Stewart) should have applied to that
House.—( Hear.) The Magistrates were, therefore, perfectly
right in refusing to act upon that warrant.
Mr. WYNN could assure the Hon. Member that the para-
graph to which he had alluded had not been introduced for
the purpose of casting any imputation upon him, but because
if such a precedent was improper, and if acted upon by future
Election Committees, would be extremely inconvenient.