The Sun.
London, England, 1820-07-15 00:00:00

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motttlis at least occurring. in the course of the proe
ceedings ? . And all this inconvenience and Hugs'
tice was to be incurred merely.becaUse Ministers
would not giVe that information of thich they
had been in possession SQ long, and 'Web It.
e
so necessary to enable the CotinseiNh Vietisea\
pattx-too meet the accusation agains her. s 110
'entreated their Lordships 'to reflect on the cone
sequences to be apprehended from all that had
transpired at the bar of that Horiseall the ini*.
pure and:l'6lll details of the accusation against lid
Majesty', going forth to the public• to be canvass"
'ed and Commented upon, without their Lordships
liting able to take' any steps to stop it. Ile cone
juiced their Lordships to look at the state of Os
public mind at:present, and to consider the in"
creased state of inflammatiOn into which it would.
be thrown by this circumstance, and then td,
.weigh in their minds whether it was worth while,,
to incur. this by' refusing the simple 'request nod'
made, on the grounds which he had stated. Be;
'cause he' thotight it would be fUrthering the ends
of justite, and entibljiig their Lordships to deal
more speedily with the case, he should give his
vOteldr the motion of his Noble and Learned
Friend.
Lord -LtvEapoor. said, there were few ques"
tions of this description on which he had beed
more anxious to delivet his sentiments than 4..
this ; because he must know but little of his Org,
feelings,' or: of the character of the qUestion
,deliberation, if he could be induced tij 'hesitate-
one moment, after the appeal of the Illustrious'
Personage," or -of 'the Noble and .Learned
(Lord Erskine.) He was ready to agree witll •
'that Learned Lord that a Bill of Pains arid'
Penalties' was :against all the ordinary rules and'
principlesof Law. He was also ready to agre°
with him that in' the
.present case they ought td
4
proeeed
.not by,,precedent, nd.precedent, but by the forms a.
principles of-substantial justice. But at the sin-18
time he would contend that it was right for theol
to`know how the precedents'stood after the BO
bad been placed on the' table. Supposing it had,
appeared that the precedents pointed the othee
way—that they were in favour of a list of wit'
nesses being granted, lie would ask their Lord`.-
,ships whether it would have been easy for theta
to have rejected the request for such a list. 10
contended, therefore, that the 'knowledge of pre'
cedents was a necessary ingredient in the case, t°
discover if light‘ could'be had in their pr°;
ceeding-;- and it was on these grounds that he liaa
supported the motion of a Noble Lord for a search
for precedents. lie was ready to admit with the
,Noble Lord, however, that the present eaf",
would admit of no precedents ; wild that if j/i,
were consistent with substantial justice, a list 01.
witneSSes ought to be granted.(llear, hear!)----
There was one point in the speech of the. Noble -
and Learned Lord, Wherein he contended that
there Was a 'sort of analogy betotWit this case aai,
.cases ofthigh treason, and wherein he- stated all
the advantages which, under the. Act of Kin 4,
William, were given to the party accused,
granting a list of the witnesses, on which he
desirous of saying a few' wtafci4. The Leao„
Lord said,. he knew there were some'persons•tow -
grumbled a little about this Statute eof
William. Now, he would say, although his or.
nion was that great inconvenience was- incui:ret'
under that Statute, and he doubted whether
justice it afforded in some instances was equal to 64,
inconvenience it occasioned in others, ,that
would not tneddlo with that Statute. He had SCi'
justice, in some instances; done under it both to 0":
Crown and to the accused ; and on that accoau;
as well as on account of its long standing, he we,
unwilling to interfere with it. But nevertikele,s-i
the principle upon which it had been fouud.etoi.,
was alway s matter of doubt---not amongst,
Jacobites only but amongst the'greatest evil`,'
and-- most Constitutional Lawyers'. The
ly
doubt prevailed With reSpett to '7th-Ann ; whi.ct
whether introduced as an act of justice or an
of mercy, enacted that the prictiee of givitleger
witnesses was not to be in force till itito
the decease of the Pritender, so that this act 40(
a dead letter 'on the statute book for upwara,s I,
seven -years. The case of Lord George Gov" °-
ej
hz believed, was tli.d first in which it was Old
upon. The Noble and Learned Lord (it`ifa,
Erskine) had alluded to the greatest Col'&4l,il
tional Lawyer—one who had been Most dispo-i el.
to favour. liberty ; and what, he would ask-, ,1/44,e,
his sentiments on the subject of furnishing ,
,i
prisoner with a list of witnesses ? lie saiti,
it had one advantage in it, it. was calculate"
serve many bad purposes. The purposes-
'hided to were obvious, and was this single 1.),,
vantage 'to weigh against the innumeraM f ;if
pu'rposeS ? The accused Was allowed a list
the -witnesses, against him whilst the CrownwilLat:
ndite the'con . trary side ; and therefore, - ecif
ever perjury was brought forward by the accllee,,
it was not -possible that the Crown could be irogf
pared to controvert it. In drawing the alratro,
hetWeenlhe present case and cases of bigli
son, he could-only Say, that however degradgtsitill
might, to, a feeling mind, be more than death'
it was not so in legislation. He would saY, of
except in case of treason, the giving listialj
VOtili!SßeS Was open to many, exceptions.. It nit:l4
give the accused the power •of bringing 3. iotl'
case; it gave him also The eieWer 'Co act "Li, jas'
midation. It might be the rrwaris of !q.opPp.'3o°
tice her.course.—of preventing their bein-'
.to bring their witnesses fair and free into C°latioi3
(Hear !)---On the 'other band, some consUltor pre:
was to be given,to the popular clamour
juclice which Might be stirred up so as 00,
against the accuser,„ Let those who uteocl.
think the law of this country seicentiforei:
toward criminals, look at the tribunals ovir 13:c
countries, and haVing seen the spirit of ton
they Might then turn their regards
own country, and pronounce upon its 0-7, .0,-Wo
They might then pronounce on those la' •
are the admiration of all foreign cbtalterlef'pc°6'
,
of every great *Titer ; under which lye +.-14A '0
—(Hear.)
which
o ;Wv ec
carneld
1-11aeitie) If; rte. 11. ecs;l3.3r4: ct:s
this case, and those prieciples in paret' be g.ie
which there was now a 5 utes!ilo,,rit ;tianeveri
prepared to say on this pent that