The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-23 00:00:00

myself to the one point of the chcrge that imputes to me
impure and dishonourable mctives.--t(Llear, hear.) I
confined myself to this single point, and when this
House talks of keeping its jurisdiction within itself
and of not rosOrting, to another tribunal, how could they
command the confiddnce of the public if it allowed its
sworn officers to be thus assail( d. I hope that those
•

who are more conversant with the forms of this House

than myself will kindly suggest what the proper motion
ought to be. My idea was, and I assure the House that
I never communicated it to a single individual below me,
but from the lung standing of the Right Hon.
Baronet in the House, and from his exalted
position, he might be able to " treat with• in-
difference in this House what I could not

consistently with my duty pass by; and, as the sworn
officer of this House, I think I have a still stronger

right to request and demand of it, not protection, but
justice—(Hear, hear)—than even the Right Hon. Ba-
.

ronet hiniself.

I ask the House if these are imputations

made on my honour and integrity in the discharge of
my duty, and, if they are, I colt on the person making
them to substantiate those charges, and here I em to

‘„
meet them.—(Cheers.) If I had done anything to create
a doubt or suspicion of my- conduct I should be satisfied

to meet the consequences, but if no man can state any
such grounds, or raise any such doubts in the minds of ho-
nourable men, dun I have a right to the protection of the
House, and I hope it will afford it to me.—(Hear, hear.)
I, therefore, trust you will afford me that justice which
you can afford to me, and that is to declare that I acted
honourably in the discharge of the public duty
intosed on me by the House, and to stigma-
tise those who have cast on me this foul
imputaCon.—(Loud cheers.) I apologise ; but I
feel I need not apologise to the House—(Cheers)—but
the House will recollect I did not bring this forward—

(Hear, hear)—l had not the slightest idea of noticing
it., but when it was noticed in this House my personal.
honour required that it should not be allowed to rest
here.—(Hear.) I have been told it was unworthy of
my notice, and perhaps I ought to apologise to the
for calling its attention to what was stated in a public
journal. But it wss stated in order to poison the mind
of the public against me, and it was as base an insinua
tion as the other. It stated that I was looking for some
office or employment from the Government. I ought to
apologise to the House for noticing it ; I feel
it humiliating to reply to such a charge, but on my
honour, never either directly or indirectly, from any
member of the Government, or any person connected
with the Government, have I obtained, or asked, or
sought, or applied for, any office, or employment, for my.
self, or any human being be!onging to me.—(Loud
cheers.) 'lbis insinuation is as base and false as the
other, and with the exception of sending an application
to my Hon. Friend for the situation of a guager backed
by representations from the place I represent. With
that exception I never asked fur place or emolument for
myself from any Government past or present. I ought to
apologise to the House for this; but these calumnies are
sent into the world, and circulated by a journal which is
extensively read, and which ought to be above making
such impu' ations ( Hear, he a r)—a n d I therefore
thought it was my duty to declare indignantly that they
are false.—(The Hon. Gentleman sat down amid loud
cheers.)
Sir J. GRAHAM then rose and said, the House will
bear in mind that, at the very moment the Hon. Mem-
ber for Knaresborough resumed his seat, I ruse for the
purpose of addressing it, and, Sir, I must remark,
after what has fallen from the Hon. and Learned
Member for Beverley, that in this House there is no
distinction amongst us. We arc all honourable men,
enjoying the highest honour which in a free country
can be imposed on any gentlemen, that of being chosen
by the people as their reprs?sentatives in this assembly.
—(Hear, hear.) I conceive, that when the honour of a
Member of this House is assailed, the honour of the House
itself is in jeopardy, and that it is not the duty of the
individual Member to vindicate. his honour to assailed ;
but that it is the duty of the House to ascertain whether
the stain cast on the honour of that Member was
well founded, If it is the opinion of the
House that the charge is well founded, it is their
duty to expel the Member guilty of dishonourable con-
duct, in order that the honour of the House may remain
unstained. The House will recollect that last night I
waived my privilege of moviug that the words
be taken down by . the clerk at the table.
I am now limiting my observations to the charge which
the Hon. Member has preferred against myself. • The
accusation was this :—I had used my official power for
the purpose of obtaining a false report. These are the
identical words. Yesterday I stated that I waived
my right to have those words taken down. I said
it was better the Hon. Member should have an oppor-
tunity of substantiating his charge. I referred also
on this occasion to another charge, which in general
terms the Hon. Member for Knaresborough directed
against the Hon. Member for Beverley and myself.
The Hon. Gentleman said that the charge was contained
in a report of his speech which had appeared in the Times
newspaper and asked him to come down with that
report in order to add 'the general charge against
the Ilonourable Member for Beverley and myself
to the more specific charge against mysely alone. I
certainly fully expected when the Honourable MembeJ
rose in his place, that he came down so prepared, and
to give effect to the resoibtion, I understood him for-
mally to have announced last night. Certainly when I
rose to address you, and comment on his extraordinary
omission on the first and substantsal charge
against myself, and also on his havins for-
gotten what I understood he had promised
in reference to the Hon. Member for Beverley, and a
, found the Hon. Member. for Knaresbourgh had left his
place, I inferred he had run away from the charge he had
preferred against us. Upon his refusing to join
issue here in the only place where such a
chage could be investigated, I for one, am most per-
fectly satisfied to leave this matter where it now
stands. The Muse and the public will be able to
judge of the conduct of the Hon. Member, and it will be
for' the House to determine what course it is for them
to pursue under the circumstances.
Sir R. PEEL strongly advised the House, in 'a case of
such importance as the present, to let some interval
elapse befre they should determine what course to pur-
sue. We cannot, said the light Honourable Gen-
tlernan, adopt, in this arena, free discussion
where we permit the acts of public men and -public au-
thorities to be discussed, We cannot adopt any proceed-
ing, either for the purpose of vindicating the ac-
cused or of censuring the accuser, without es-
tablishing a most important precedent.—(Hear.)
I think, therefore, it is most important, before we come
to any division, that we should look back to such records
as may be within our reach for the purpose of ascertaining
what course the House had taken under any circumstances
at all analagous to these. The House will bear in mind,
that supposing a charga . were preferred against
a public officer, implying on his part great miscon-
duct, dishonourable conduct, by a member of the
minority, nothing would be so easy as for
the majority to support, that public officer, to brand the
accuser, and to vindicate the accused.—(Hear, hear.)
A precedent, therefore, is very important, and.
if abused, might be dangerous ; and consider-
ing the • immense constitutional importance of
perfectly free discussion in this House, and
considering that all objectionable precedents ori-
ginate in some exceptional cases where, looking ab-
stractedly at the individual case, indignant feelingsprompt
to some sudden and precipitate step ; adverting to these
considerations, my advise to the House, taken as
I am by surprise, on the prsent occasicon, is to
adjourn the discussion, so:as to allow time for determin-
ing what course should be taken.—(Hear, hear.) Sir,
I must say that since the day when the conjuror under-
took to compress himself into a quart bottle, there never
has been experienced greater disappointment than is felt
on this occasion.—(Great laughter.)
Lord JOHN RUSSELL rose, and was
(LEFT SPEAKING.)

POL ICE INTELLIGENCE.
(YESTERDAY.

MANSION-HO USE.

Edward Bathurst, the person who was brought before
Sir Peter Laurie, charged with having endeavoured to
obtain 2,000/. Exchequer bills from Mr. Joseph Davis, of
the Stock Exchange, was re examined yesterday. Mr.
Borradaile, and other mercantile men of eminence, were
present.
Mr. Wise attended as solicitor for Mr. Davis.

When the prisoner was placed at the bar,
Sir PETER LAURIE asked him whether any friends of
his mrE present? Bathurst—l have friends ; but they
will not ackowledge me in this condition.
Sir PETER LAURIE—Can you procure any bail ?
Bathurst—l fear nobody will will bail me.
Mr. Borradaile said that he attended at the justice
room, in consequence of the statement which apl eared
in the newspapers, having received a bill of exchange
drawn by the prisoner from the Cape of Good Hope,
upon Sir Charles Cockerell and Co. The prisoner had
no funds whatever at the louse, and had no authority
to draw upon it, and Sir Charles Cockerell knew no-
thing at all of him. The money had been paid at the
Cape.
Here Sir PETER LAURIE handed the bill of exchange,
which was regularly noted, to the prisoner, and asked
whether he know anything about it. Bathurst (with a
long sth)—Yes. I do know it, unfortunately.— (A
laugh.)
Sir PETER LAURIE—Why did you represent at the
Cape of Good Hope that you had authority to draw upon
Sir C. Cockerell ? Bathurst—lf I had my papers here,
I would show you that I had a correspondence upon the
subject, and that I had no improper design in what I
had done. lam merely unfortunate—certainly not cri-
minal.

Sir PETER LAURIE you showed me your correspond-
ence with Coutts' Bank, the particulars of which I did
not publicly mention ; but that only went to show they
declined to have anything at all to do with you. Bathurst
—I assure you I was authorised by Coutts house ro do
as. I was doing, when it was thought necessary to take me
into custody.

Sir PETER LAURIE—Where is your property of
which you have spoken ? Bathurst—l do de-
clare to you that I had once ample means.
My father was in extensive business in India,
bbt he died early, and I went out to secure his business
and conduct it, but I became overwhelmed with embar-
rassments and difficulties, and I arrived in this country
struggling with misfortune.

Sir PETER LAURIE—You now say you are in distress,
and still you went, in the midst of these embarrass-
ments, to take a counting-house, and to instruct a broker
to purchase 2,0001. Exchequer bills. Now, how do you
reconcile these inconsistencies? Bathurst—l was, I de-
clare, authorised by Coutts' to hypothecate these bills;
but I admit I have acted very foolishly.
Sir PETER LAURIE—The fact is, you thought you were
too clever fur us, and you were mistaken. I have made
inquiries, and I find that :you have respectable con-
nections. I find, also, that you have but very lately
arrived from the Owe of. Good Rope, so that you have