The Sun.
London, England, 1820-02-22 00:00:00

WRITS SUSPENSION BILL.

Lord J. RussuLL moved the second reading of
this Bill.

Sir CHARLES BURRELL observed, that as the
importance of this Bill seemed to be allowed on
all hands, and as the Noble Lord opposite (Lord
Castlereagh) had himself 'acknowledged its pro-
priety, although he had suggested the prob:thility
of many difficulties and delays being thrown in its
way in the Upper House, he rose for the purpose
of suggesting the expediency of the Noble Lord's
using his influence in that House, to the end !bat
no unnecessary delay should be allowed to cross
its path in its progress through that House.
_ Mr. CALCRAFT must take the liberty of saying
that there never was any thing more disorderly
than the Hon. Member's conduct. No one could
be more willi than be was to support his Noble
Friend in.the principle of this Bill.; but he could
not join him in wishing that it should pass that
House; in his opinion it was quite impossible it
ever could pass. It would be imposing oo the
nation, that all who had voted for that Bill had
done so with the conviction that corruption had
existed in the four Boroughs to which it referred,
to an extent that required the Elective Franchise
to be taken from them during the Election about
to take place. Now, sufficient evidence had not
been produced to satisfy Members of this. In the
House of Lords, he alas convinced they were not
in possession of sufficient information with re-
spect to the Borough of Barnstaple, to be .able
to concur in passing the Bills. He, however,
did not desire to see Members returned flour any
of the 'four Boroughs ; but the mode which he
should 'propose to be adopted in lieu of the unsa-
tisfactory one now before the House, wotild be to
address the Crown, praying that it woi,ld suspend
the Writs. His proposition seemed to have cre-
ated some surprise among Gentlemen, but lie
thought this was an occasion on which they ought
to throw themselves on the Crown. He was
aware that in the best of times, with regard to the.
issuing, suspending;, and susperseding of Writs, it
bad always been held that that House ought to
rely on itself ; but the present was altogether a
new case. No sitfficient evidence had been pro-
(Need to one branch of the Legislature, and no
evidence whatever had been offered to the other.
They would avoid, therefore, by the Address, the
inconveoience which the other branch of the Le-
gislature would be pot 'to i t coming to a decision,
without a sufficiency of evidence. He begged to
be understood as heiog perfectly ftiendly to the
principle of the Act—it was solely as to the means
he differed.

Mr. %V. ‘VYNNB Wa3 of opinion, that such an
Adthess as that proposed by the Honourable
Gentleman who had just tpolsen, would tend to
the total overthrow of the Constitution, and of the
whfkle frame of Patliatnent. Jt would be a recog-
nition, that, the Crown
,could, at its will and plea-

sure, suspeoui the elections of diff, tent places,
put ar, end at once to Parliament—(Hear, hear
....Ale was satisfied that such a measure would
ba
illegal. With aspect to the Borough of Barn.
staple, he thought sufficient evidence was before-
Parliament to educe it to agree to the present
Bill, the sinp, circumstance of the voters hae
ing been proved to have taken 31. and .5/, a Mak
for their votes.
Mr. MARRYAT was averse to the Bill, becaUs°
it confounded together four cases, in which Ii
thought there existed strong distinctions. gal
the voters of Grampoond were at present in gaoll
and there was no doubt, with the fate of tbeiC
brother voters before their eyes, the remaitting
voters would be ova aseir best behaviour,
should tut election take place amongst theca $C
present. There were also two Members at Pre'
sent in prison, in consequence of corrupt prae
aces ; and really, if he were called upon to de'
dare which were the Boroughs that would act 011
an Election with the greateit purity it the pre'
sent crisis, he should lay his hands on those Yell
,Boroughs.
Mr. BROUGHAM thought it was riot necessarYtil
be possessed of any great foresight to fiercely%
that - at that period of the Session the minds (n
Members were not in a state to discuss so import'
ant a question as this—a question involving ito
less-ahan the disfranchisement of four Boroughs,
and transferring the right of election to other tln-
represented places. The Bill said what was 11118
en,.ugh, that they had not sufficient evidence for
three out of the four, anti, therefore, their Elec'
five Franchise should remain in abeyance lilt
Pariiament should be able to carry on the
quiry, and, being in possession of more lament':
lion, decide at once on their punishment. lie did
not see how it would affect that discussion, evert
it the Members returned from those places shohl"
be si.tiug in that. House. His Hon. Ftieotit
(Mr. Calcraft), in -proposing an Address tu
the Crown, had totally overlooked,- that if 'be,
Crown was put in possession by that Address, o'
the power of suspending the units of one or 01°
particular Boroughs, it could also extend th°
power to the whole of the 44 Boroughs; for thAg
Address of the House could confer no power, an,
owed not only its continuance, but • its existence
to itself. lie entertained no ouch sanguine
pectation respect to the pure conduct
the Boroughi in case they should be allovs'e"
to exercise their Elective Franchise at lba
present moment. In the present crisis of affair.
he should not do his duty, and should be Kell);
of an act of injustice to his feelings, if he did
use his endeavours to engage the clemency (Pt
the House in behalf of a person who was aE
present sufferine in consequence of the deciae
that House. He alluded to Sir Manasseh Lori:
and he could not help thinking that two ye-,'",
imprisonment was a penishment too severe for
offence, the existence of which was so notorioo"
in that House, and which had seemed to
him to its commission by the impunity with whit::
it bad been so long suffered to pass. He outtv';
to say that he had no communication with
NI Lop: z Out the present occasion; and, in& Y":,
to little did he know of him, that were he to YYBI7
'into that House At that moment, he ,should ad"
he acquainted with his person. lie could o,c,
help feeling a hope that that [louse would tioa`,/ :
no impediment in the Way of the Roval cletneoF;
in the case of that outortunate individual, vvb°,4
punishment was the more severe, as he ev-ki of „
age, he believed, of G 8 years. lie hoped it evoill't
not be thought that he meant to palliate 060111
grave and set ions offence. 'lbis was not an or"'
nary- case, becauie, though the'CroWn weld ror,ff
don, it woald in the present instance stand ill flit,
way of that House.
Mr. SCARLEVT expressed his surprise at soli
(1t
bad !allot from his Hon. and [.earned ieutl ‘14.1-.t
had just spoken. Ile begged to remind him, 'll6,
the individual he had been pleadiug,for had ltee!e
awarded his present punishment by a dectee of
Court n; King's Bench, and -it was not oelicat,t
for the House to iutertere in the decisions r;itliti,
Court. For his putt, he did not think the Suit
tence was at all too severe. le.his opiniot''r
was one of the gravest offences that any Meths le
of Parliament could be found guilty of ; and b°'-0
ever leniently that House erupt be disposed ,
think o, it, it was au offence which the itlagi4
of the Land, he trusted, would also be found fel°
to visit With the utmost rigour. rt
Mr. BROUGHAM explained, that he dui
think lightly of the offence, any mote than ";
Honourable and Learned Friend ; and he b;
Bever! he had expressed himself to that efficl
what he said.
Sir JOSEPH YORKE was dellirOllS of decia-1
his sentiments on the subject which the Hon• $01)
Learned Gentleman opposite (Mr. Broughil ,p
had introduced at the leiter end of. his speech
He assured him that his sentiments perfe fly o
corded with those of' the Hon. and Learned Gent„e
man. But he wished also to put in it word in
✓
half of Mr. Swan—(a leoAO—who was sufferi:
for the same offence as Sir Manasseh. HO tass
the more disposed to commisserate with t",„
Gentletuao, because what had principally c° :-of
duced to tutu the scale ae,,ainst him on his tilia
wes an tmeaueelled draft, which he had left 00
d
the hands of a man who bad used it as a we
against hits.—(A laugh.)
Mr. D. WHITTLE LIARYfft spoke in favour
the Bill. $ a
Lord CAsTLEnsacn conceived that there w 9
130
prima facie case made out for affecting these'
the
roughs. ile had given his vote in favour of ice,
Bill, but he certainly'thought it a strong mealltigif
The Ku ~,,ent to place the question in precis it
the same situetiou iu the new Varliament es
,e
stood at present ; but Parliament had the 55•06
power over Wiits as the Crown had during

dissolution.
Sir 3: MACKINTOSH was of opinion, tm--t
once to procced to disfranchise the Boroughl I;
qut.stion would he ro deal with 'them too haisb`lrti"
hot under ali the ciremostances he was of opin,i°,b;
that noshing woula be so well as to suspellt,
issuing of new Writs for Boroughs against cvoih
-cto
so much corruption had been ir.oved).in order 01
ketT the question in its present state, and gUilijg
effectually against its beinc interfered with by 10
ensuing Election. Thu Bill, iu fact, Went t°
no-w Ore than had previously been done in of

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Lord Casmtar:Aotf,. in explanation, showed
161( the present was a stronger measure than had
4t'en•previously introduced where the object was
‘cfsuspend the issuing of Writs,
Lord J. Rinses-L. contended, that if new Writs
vere issued, it would obviously make in favour of
the Boroughs, and Ise therefore felt it to be his
duty to press the present Hill, and to pursue to
the utmost the corruption that had been proved
against them. The practical inconveniences that
'attached to the Bill, he maintained, had been con-
*iderably exaggerated by (hose who opposed it.
The Borough of Batnstaple, from the time that
Sir M. Lopcz hart been declared not duly elected,
Iliad been, in effect, placed in the saute situation
1,..4 whirh it was proposed to place the other
'llorouglis during the dissolution of Parliament.
binee 1818, iteconsuqueuce of the suspension of
the issuing of the Writ, that Borongh (Barn-
-1"Ple) had had but one efficient Member in the
rouse. The time for which it was propos-
"4l that the issuing of the writ should be sus-
))ended now, was much shorter than that for
which the writ for Barnstaple was suspended
tefore. They had very good reasons for he-
ietring that a new Parliament would meet quicker
iliter the dissolution, now at hand, than they
a right to expect that it would when the
Douse separated last July. Having taken a
brief view of the Shattesbury case, he insisted
that the only way effectually to remedy the evil
routplained of was, to take the elective franchise
trom those close Boroughs in which it had been
au corruptly trsetl, and trauster it to some wore
-PoPtilous place. While these continued to exist,
and contained bat a few deco-its, persons, as they
+k
new from experience, would always be found
uold enough to bribe and corrupt them. He did
.110 t think that all their sympathy ought to he re-
;serveitl for Sir M. Lopez. A poor ignorant eke-
!°r who received a bribe, was frequently sub-
4teted to a long imprisonment. The party tempt-
tug him (like Sir M. Lopez) bad not the same
rtense to plead on account of ignorance. Of Sir
!I. Lopez he woeid say no more, and to another
individual, convicted of the same practices, be
vv
.°Ol4 only apply the well-known line from a
74
.14‘41 poet—
" Rara axis in terra nigro Cygno.'
After a few words how Mr. BERNALL, the Bill
wag lead a second time and committed for t0..430tr0w,
..430trow,