The Sun.
London, England, 1819-12-11 00:00:00

of public importance, that it could not proceedia
it without degrading itself, and with the least
prospect of advantage to the subject ?. Yet it Wns
on a sudden found equal to receive evidences t°
determine points of law, and to decide what. Wile
or was not a libel without any trial Sods a
course, he conceived, would excite great dissatis-
faction, and create a feeling of injustice. Sur
posing even that the obnoxiosts• passage should
turn out to be a libel, it would be most repug-
nant to the sense of the country, to find that the
House had become a Judge in its own cause.
stead of vindicating its character, it would onif
tend to lower it, it it were possible that it shotd&
sink lower in the estimation of the conntry.--*--
(Hear, hear !)—He complained that the Honours+
able and Learned Member did not even call opoll,
the House to determine, first, whether any offence
had been committed before it ordered an individual
to attend at its Bar, He also conceived that it
would have been but fair to have read the whole of,.
the pamphlet, in order to ascertain from the context
what was the real meaning of the passage complain*
ed of. Prom what he had heard, in its detached
state,heconceived it might be a libel, for it was true
—(Order )—He maintained that it was Roe that':
Boroughmongers were as degraded in the opi"
nion of the country as the pamphlet represented
them to he. He contended that more abusive,.
passages than the present against the House of,
Commons could he found in the writings of 111 e,
Burke and Lord Chatham, As to the privileged
of the House, they had been granted in order to
enable it to do duty in supporting those of tint!
people, and chiefly to put an end to the old prae•
tice by which Members had been called to account
before the Vrivy Cooncil for their conduct in that
Home. He then quoted the opinion of that
learned Selden, who considered, the tyranny of the •
House of Commons the greatest that could be e);"
ereised anywhere. He protested against the
course proposed to viudicare the character of the
Hoose, conceiving that it would have a control.
effect. Having read the whole pamphlet, he dill
not believe that the writer intended to advise 114,
exertion of force, but that 'he meant to say (hot
force alone, and not love, prevented the pen le
front effecting an alteration in the Constitution or:
Parliament. And was not this the doctrine 'main"
tained and expressed by the House itself ? Wee
it not the ground on which the present measure
were founded ? The writer had only asserted what
the House said of itself, for it had declared that
it was only by a system of coercion it could retails'
its authority over the people N•iv ewe's worser,
it was about to make it highly penal to express a'
free opinion. He should now ground his opposi'
Lion to the motion, on the impropriety of bring'
ing up a person to the Bar of tine House, before
it had been decided that •he was guilty a an n'f"7
fence. At the same time, he should protest againit
the. assumption., on the part of tine House, a
powers which toe fled it into a Court of Justice=
and enabled it.to decide in its own case, thus de".
priving any person brought before theta of tha
poseih:nity of having a fair trial.'
'dr. BANKIIS bad listened attentively to 114.
speech of the Hon; Baronet, and bowever attach'
ed to the freedom of 'ebate, thought that it con'
tained passages which' *would have justified hint
interi.osiog. The Worthy Baronet bad not (Of
deni those essential privileges of the Hoot'
without which it could not exist as a House at
all, but he had asserted that it had lately re'.
nonnced its inquisitorial functions in a case is
which their exertion had been called for by the
whole country. He (Mr. B ) contended, that lc/
doing so the House had but used the discretiona;
ry power with which it was .invested,—(Heorly
Whether it had used it properly or not was a du;
ferent question.; but it had that power. "rit
respect to inquiry, its capacity was not eV/ ~
that of the Courts below ; but he did not see
what way the present offence could be investigst
in a Court of Law, unless, after evidence had bee-s
taken before a Committee at the Bar of tl/50
House, it should direct the Attorney-General to
institute a prosecution. He did not know o'bilo
course the Honourable and Learned Geroletnao
intended to take, but there were many precede°,
in the best times for that eviich he had just oleic:
dotted. Nothing was more conformable 10 ltdri
liamentary practice than that, after an encia/jj
like that now proposed, the Attorney-Genti.ro
should be ordered to prosecute. And could tin
be called, on the part of the House, deciding 'to
its own case ?—(Hear, hear !)—With resPeetf
the passage complained of, he had never read at
b
thing more gross in its nature, not only as a lii)teo
but AS holding out unequivocal encouragentet'L.o,o
the people of tine country, by brute force t'' ref
out the• Members of that House, and fling ;IS
into tine Thames. And yet it was said thaw
would be unjust in tine House to take notice cut.
-
gross and atrocious an exhortation ! It was (rt,
that the House had been instituted for the 15'01 es
tion of the people, but it could not contioneri,
exist without npaintaining tbe integrity of 0.130
vileges. Tine Honourable-Baronet anti
might think ill of tl,e Constitution of tine countyto
but God forbid they should ever be entrusted wt
d
the task of amending it, He would resist 04'1;1
attempt to produce such a consummation, for;eos
country had too long flourished under its Pre; it
Constitution to justify the wish of a change'datf
would be impossible for the House to do its
to tine advantage of the people, if tine public
were worked upon by such libels as the pre'oad
It would be a derelic ion of duty on its part'ler
an abandonment of privileges which would en`tint
ger its existence, and prove of no benefit tutto'clt
people, if it should neglect to notice an °veil
t
like that which had been made, or to
against the new sect which had sprung UP, - 1160
fence of its rights, aunt of those:of the ti
• country entrusted to its care.—(Hear, hela. 011
Lord J. Husseet. did not pretend to•decivivas;
the question of libel, hint considered the eon
proceediog adopted ,as ill-advised tat Int • Se'
libe pi
like the present. Why, in a ctowd of tin
lect this publication) for tine visitation_ nod
House ?—Far grosser attacks had hee"etjole
against its character and authority, ant'yfloocelt;
served his Lordship) they were left C
Why not prosecute tine authors of those
tionft passed at public meetings and Pobey
those, wino had subscribed them, not t°
s fliA
laws passed by the House after the pre'
s January ? Mere was bet one way for tar