Star.
London, England, 1822-02-26 00:00:00


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—lt was transcribed by some of the Magistrate f 4
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afterwards,wher where
it to have been a circular. There was no priv'keße
which exempted Members of Parliament from the
operation of laws of this nature. Would any nee
say that Members had a right to hold personal ilkee.
course with prisoners,while others were denied it?,
If, then, they were not allowed personal intercoerse,
by what sight could they hold intercourse by letter?.
He was quite convinced that there was no law by
which Members of Parliament had greater privileges
of communication with felons, or persons confined
for misdemeanours, than any other class of subjects
in the State—(lleer).
Mr. BERNAL did not think that the Right Boni
Secretary of State had made out a sufficiently strong
case to rebut the opinion of the Hon, atot,e,.. He
thought it would be much better to run the risk of
the damage which might arise from a flee inter-
course with prisoaers by letters, than to allow the
chance of these acts of cruelty aad oppression to
. which the rules and regulations complained of might
give rise.
Sir ROBERT WILSON said, that he did not at-
tach much value to precedents; but there was one
which bore on the present case in the teig s of
William and Mary: it was a Resolution of the /Louse
" that any letter being broken open which came
from or was directed to a Member of Parliamc ot, is
a breach of the privileges of this House." Whc en he
saw the Report which the Commissioners had ) made
as to the state of Ilchester Jail, he was of oip i,iion
that neither jailers nor NI igistrates could be tr, wed,
and that Members of Parliament ought to hay e the
freest access to prisons, to prevent such practic es.
Mr. C. WYNN was of' opinion, that neitl so- a
breach of the privileges of that House, nor cif the
law of the land had been committed in the pi sr,e-.;
instance. The act dearly extended no farther • thRl
the Pust-office, and the privileges of Members Irent
no farther than as regarded the Post-office. Whe:l
they looked at the precedent of the resolution of 16!44,
it would be well to look to the causes which led to
that resolution. The case was a complaint fro in the
Postmaster at Hull against the Governor of F the.
place, who was in the practice of sending f r the
mail-bags and opening what-raters he chose.. Ile
believed that the Acta-. which had been refer. •ed to
gave the Magistrates the power which they ha d ex-
ercised. Before those Acts•were passed, the jailer
himself had the power of doing anything whi ch he
held necessary to the safe keeping of the j oil a] ii the
safe custody of the prisoners. He could then place
prisoners in solitary confinement for refractory con-
duct, or for offences against the regulations ( I the
prison. To place that power in the hands of NI agie.
trates better qualified to exercise it was the ohjt xt of
the Acts, and he had no doubt of their having now
the.power of ordering solitary confinement, v there
circumstances called for it. The es ils to which a re-
moval of the power of examining letters would give
rise, were of the most serious character. It meght
aid the escape of prisoners, or defeat the detect], o of
offenders connected with others already app] ehezhsled.
Even (although it was an extreme case) poison might
be conveyed to criminals by letter, so as to el able
them to avoid suffering the sentence, of the law. He
saw no reason whatever why the motion of the lloa.
Member should receive the support of the House-
Mr. BROUGHANI had wished to hear his flight
Hon. Friend, who was formerly well known on his
side of the House; and he hoped would still be on
that to which he had now gone, as the zealous de-
fender of the privileges oiParliament ; but after hear-
ing him, he was more than before convinced that this
was a perfect breach of privilege. But first, he roost
protest against the monstrous doctrine of the Right
Hon. Secretary (Mr. Peel) that regulations, sanctioned
by Judges and Magistrates, might do away with the
privileges of Parliament. The Resolution, condemn..
ing the Post-office fcr opening letters of Members.
was drawn up on a Repoi t of Sir R. Walpole, Sir W.
Wyndham, Sands, Winnington, and the greatest men
of the day ; and the reason why it only mentioned the
breach of privilege by Post-office agents was, because
they only were complained of. But it was obvious
that the same men would have said the same of any
other persons who should have intercepted tits great
stream by which the complaints and grievances
of the People could be brought to the ear of Parlia-
ment. The Right Hon. and Learned Gentleman
(Mr. Wynn) could not say that the precedent of Colc-
nel Copley, the Lieutenant-Governor of Hod, was a
case confined, to the Post-office, for his conduct was
brought before Parliament by Morson, the Deputy
I Postmaster. It was strange to say, that it would be
wrong in a Military Officer, and not in a jailer, or any
other officer belonging to Government. It had been
'Aid, that the privilege of franking was liable to abuse.
He knew of none of their privileges but what were
liable to abuse. That of arrest for instance—(Hear.
He knew of a Member of the last Parliament who
made over his property to a near relation, and left
11 some of his starving creditors to go to pi ison ; where,
but fur his privilege from arrest; he himself would
have gone. It was not decorous to say in that House,
that because a Member could abuse his privilege of
communicating means of escape, &c. to prisoners
they should take it away, and prevent the public cr
private abuses and complaints of the People front
being conveyed to Members of Parliament, iii order
to be brought before the Legislature, and there re-
dressed. These privileges, and such as these, should
be preserved, in order to save the liberties of the
People boldly, zealously, and faithfully. Ile was
sorry to find a venerable Judge's name to regulations,
certainly rendering a prisoner's •onfinement much
more severe than it otherwise would have tees; and.
notwithstanding that great name, he must pause be-
fore he pronounced it even then to he legal.
Mr. 1101t1tOCKS defended the conduct of the
Magistrates on this occasion, and declared that they
went by the highest law authorities. This person was
convicted of seditious acts of the very worst kind;
and if he and such like. him had the means of calm-
' municating with others, they would disseminate their
poisonons principles. One prisoner wrote to another
what the intended to say, and what the other ought
to declare: unsthe concluded by telling him—" Mind
.youAtitisiallis and don't flinch." Members might
be nispo cadsy, the misrepresentations of prisoners;
fur no man could conceive that any Member woulj