The Sun.
London, England, 1821-03-16 00:00:00

13ItElCII OF PRIVILEGE.

Sir RoNALn FERGUSSON bega.* by declaring
the reluctance with which he at any time made it
complaint of a breach of privileges of that House.
He was, however, induced to rise on the present
occasion, in consequence of paragraphs of a most
gross nature which had appeared in-The Morning
Post. An article which appeared in that Paper
of yesterday, libelled his Hon.. Friend the Member
for Appleby (Mr. Creevey,) and all those who
acted with him the other night,
,in terms of the
most unwarrantable nature, representing them as
Jacobins,and people whose only object was to over-
turn the constitntion. To-day this was followed
up by a libel of a different character, in the. shape
of a letter, signed " An Englishthan." The
writer of this letter accused 'his Honourable
Friend the Member for Appleby, by' ineUndo, of
a species of cowardice, in a transaction which
-had occurred between' him and an Hon. Baronet
(Sir G. Warrender) whom he did not then see
in his place. With respeCt to that transaction, he
(Sir Ronald) had to state that he was the person
consulted by his Hon. Friend (Mr.CreeVey,) and
if there was any dereliction of:duty, or any point
! of honour unsatisfied:on that occasion, it was. him
' (Sir Ronald) and 'not that Han. Member, that
was dishonoured. As soon as he '(Sir Ronald)
had had an interview With the Noble Lord op-
posite (Lord Binning,) who acted for, the: Hon
Baronet, he had no further- communication with.
his Hon. Friend (Mr. Creevey) till the final ar-
rangement of the affair ; and be Would assert,
that a more base, false, or maliciOnS 'Ebel never
was inserted in any paper, than that of which he
now .complained. In consequence of some words
which. were dropped in, the course of debate
by the }lon. Baronet, (Sir (l..Warrender) syern,
in" to reflect on the Honourable Member for
Appleby, he, (Sir Rpnald Ferguson) had ap-
plied to the Honourable Baronet for an .expla-
nation ; an explanation did. eventually take
place of a nature the roost proper and satisfac-
tory. The honour of his lion. Friend (Mr.
Creevey) was entrusted to his care• on that pm,.
sion, and feeling under those circumstances that
his honour was as much involved as that of his
. Friend, having taken ‘thei matter in hand,'-he
hOped the House would give credit to the, asser-
tion, that the honour of neither of_the parties
was compromised in any way. :A:similar libel
had appeared 'An a Sunday paper, " John
Bull." As to that paper, he considered it a stain
upon the- public 'Press of the. country.—a most
malicious, false, and rascally.publication.. As. far.
as party 'feeling went in dictating political ariim-,
adversions, God forbid, a libel.of that kind should
-be punished. But the case was altered when it
was private character that was attacked. • And
not only did:this paper attack the Ortuousliving,
but it raked up the ashes of the virtuous 'dead,
The Hon. Baronet, declared, in conclusion, that
he should not -follow the example of the Hon.
Member for Yorkshire, by moving that the Prin,:
ter be calla to the Bar, but should content him-
; self with having 'exposed .to..the public this ca-
luinnioui libel to the satisfaction of the partiesj

and the honour of .himself and his friend. Mat-
ters of this kind When-once concluded Onght.not
to be revived. He could not sit down withdiit
expressing a hope that the Noble Lord opposite
who acted with him on that occasion, would Owl-
firm what he .had said of this libel, viz.=-that it
was one of the most fotil, scandalous, and false
that ever appeared.
Lord BINNING assured the lion. and gallant
Baronet,' that he most readily' complied With his
call. lie participated strongly with 'him in opi-
nion, that matters of -thiS sort when once Con-
cluded ought never to be disturbed, nor the feek-
ingS, iti- .which they originated revived by one
party or ,the other. He was sure conduct such
as that, could only tend to dower that high sense
Of delicacy and feeling which ought always to
prevail in matters of honour.. The Hon. Baronet
(Sir. Ferguson) had appealed to him,
whether he had not properly characterized the
trinsiction allUded to: lie had no hesitation in
saying, that there, was nothing connected with
that transaction whiCh Was not perfectly honour-
able to both partiei. The affair alluded to was
conducted between, himself and the Hon. Baronet
(Sir Ferguson), and had been conducted by
thein in a manner satisfactory to the parties
themselves and to their friends. • Ile must do the
Hon. Baronet (Sir R. Ferguson) the justice to
confess, that he could not have conducte'd him-
self in a manner more consistent with the honour
of himself and his profession,, than fie
,did upon
that occasion, and.he was sure that he was the
la•t man in the world, in whose hands the honour
of any one could suffer,
After a few observations from Mr. Bernal,
Lord Binning, Sir It. Ferguson, and Mr. Stuart
Wortley,
'Mr. HAnnottn was proceeding to make some
remarks on the subject, when
-The SPEAKER called his attention, and the at-
tention of the House, to the circumstance, that
the gallant Member who, introduced this discus-
sion had distinctly declined making any cnotien.
He appealed, therefore, to the House, whe-
Alter it would be advisable to extend its
courtesy any further, to the interruption,
of public business, after those who had felt
thernsekes personally concerned had given vent
to their explanations.—(Hear, hear !)