The Sun.
London, England, 1821-07-04 00:00:00

t.ions in Yorkshire.—(Hear, hear.)--Leaiie- was giVen, and a
Committee appointed to bring in the Bill.
OPHTHALMIC HOSPITAL.
Mr. G. BANKES brought up, the Report of the Committee
on the Ophthalmic Establishment.
Mr. BEN3'.;IiT said the sum to be given Sir MT. Adams was,
in his' mind, much too large, and he hoped his Majesty's Go-
vernment would not pay hum the sum, whi' was agreed to by
the Cormnittee,withent further inquiry before the whole House.
—The Report was .ordered to be printed.
- GAME LAWS
'I ord movt'd fitg_ a Return of the nun Ater
o?Orsons 'impiicorm7il in trightnell stitiNales ior. bre aelkessi.
Game Laws, from ymr P.B sto the year 1821 inclusive
distinguishing the charges, the number of trials and convictions
in each year. Agreed to. The Petition was then read, and
ord ?red to lie upon the table.

WHARFS.
•Mr. C. CALVERT presented a Petition from the Occupiers
of Wharfs ia St. -Waves, SOuthwark, complaining that in coo-
sequence of some compulsory regulation on the part of the West
Intim Dock Company, alltdlips coming • from the Baltic..were
obliged to go into the London Dock. The Petition Was-brought
up,' read, and ordered to lie upon the table, and be printed.
EDUCATION IN . IRELAND.
Mr. BROUGHAM expressed a hope that his Hon. Friend
(Mr. Spring. Rice) would consent to postpone his motion on this
subject until Tuesday next: ,Hemade this request because he
wished then to take the opportunity of stating to the House the
reasons which had iodue,d him to defer the Motion, which it

had been his own intention to submit.
Mr. SPRING RICE said that he had no objection to comply
with the request or his Hon. Friend. Motion accordingly post-
poned until Tuenday next.
CONSTITUTIONAL ASSOCIATION.
Mr. S. WHITuREAD; in bringing forward the
motion of which- he had given notice, wished it
had fallen into abler hands. Though he should
blame himself for taking up a subject of such in-
' (crest if any Member of -greater -weight 'in the
(louse were likely to bring it forward, he would
consider himself still'more to blame, if, when no
one else offered to do it, he were to let that which
was so important to the lives and liberties of
Englishmen pass unnoticed. He had hoped that
some other Member would bring under the con-
sideration of the House the proceedings of a So-
ciety
as odious and unconstitutional in principle,
4s it was malignant and corrupt in practice.
There was a difficulty in attacking a body whose
characteristics were perfidy and treachery. There
.was always difficulty in attacking an insidious
fly Societyf o r shelterw Ii despisingo,to
some :
paltry justice
qauni (11.0)ie
oequity,r the
'to
er
lititilyd.
ll.e was.obliged to speak thus harshly of the So-
ciety generally, though he knew that some indi-
VidualS;Of high rank and character belonged to it

—seduced into it as they had
,been by the delu-
sions which it held out, and by its calling itself
the Constitutional Association. If it had assumed

its proper name, " The Birchin-lane Plot," none
of those exalted individuals would have belonged
to it. Its affairs he understood to be conducted.
by Attornies who appeared to look less to the
interests of justice than to their own emoluMent.
No one would think of quarrelling with' an At-
torney for lOoking Olds own profit, yet he thought
he had cause to qua eel with the parties in ques-
tion for the means %,I,rich they used to attain that
end. No one,' he believed, would deny that a
sufficient power was vested in the LaW Officersof
the Crown to proceed against and put down all
libellous offences, and no one, he thought, would
be'dfraid that those officers would be too delicate
in the exercise of that power.. He was sure that
whatever were thecrimes of Benbow and Dolby,
and he did not stand there as the advocate of se-
dition and blasphemy, but as the opponent of
principles which he considered to be dangerous
to the Constitution of this country—be was sure
that whatever might have been the crimes of
Benbow and Dolby, they could have met with
all just and necessary punishrnentunder the pro-
secution of the Attorney-General. The powers
which this Society assumed at its 'Outset were
those of discerning what publications were law-
ful, and proper, and if they decided upon any as
of an opposite character, then they were to he '
subjected to prosecution. And here it was to be
observed that the- Society did not apply to per-
sons who, from education and habits ollife, were
acquainted with the law of the land, big acted
upon-its own judgment and discretion. ' There
was the strongest objection to any corpo-
rate body proceeding to prosecute an indivi-
dual; the Law Officers of the Crown were
under' some responsibility arising from public
animadversion, and from the authority of that
House,-to which the individuals composing such
a body could not be rendered liable. Ile had
always obsefved, and he trusted it was not tak-
ing two harsh a view of human nature, that men,
when associated in a body, would openly lend
themselves to transactions of which theY would
be wholly ashamed as individuals. Of course he
was quite ready to acknowledge that he possessed
ne deep knowledge of the -law ; but he could
take upon himself to assert, that a combinatior
like that which he was now called upon to notice
was not to. be recognised either in the spirit or
the practice of- the Common Law of the Land.
And if' he could read and understand the mean-
ing of an Act of Parliament, it' was in open con-
tempt of the Act of Maintenance. Upon another
ground, also, this Association was against the
spirit of law and justice. Upon a-recent decision
in the Court of King's Bench, the _Court gave
what he considered to be a very extraordinary
direction, namely, that a defendant in a prosecu-
tion instituted by this Society, should have the
right of questioning every petty juryman to the
fact of his being one 'of its members. Now, if
the Court saw danger in this circumstance, and
thought it necessary to take this precautionary
measure, how much More mischief was there to
Inr apprehended, from Members of a Grand Jury
being Associators. For this there could be no
remedy or defence provided. And even, it under
all these disadvantages, an individual should es-
'cape from the plots of the Society, and if he was
to prove himself innocent, how was he to recover
the expences to which he had been put, or how
was he to obtain remuneration for that time which
be lost in the harrassing occupation of making
his defence ? lie would have every possible diffi-
culty in doing this, because he could not prose-
cute for conspiracy on account of the difficulty
'of proving malicious intentions. There would
be- another difficulty also upon a trial of this
nature. It was for the Judge chiefly to decide
in directing the Jury what constituted proof of
malicious intentions and of conspiracy.; and there
was the possibility that that Judge-might be at
the same time an anonymous subscriber to the as-
sociation. lie was fully persuaded. that such a
combination of men must militate aff"ainst the
constitution of the country, and tend to poison