Star.
London, England, 1822-06-26 00:00:00

paper, drarlf up bylbe Ron. Member for
Monte
Lanarkshire ' ble the Rouge, 24 fer tbs. or na-voted. ia..l
ged. at the ..11
and subscribed by a great number of. the •t h bi
of that county. n a tants
d" And u
This paper stated that he bed at- not confound hit sonar
beg
sOriaredeidestwith what foiloti‘d
tually been ruined by his exertions in the cause of as to the
loyalty and Gentlemen. who had been
the case
,brought egainiff
attacked ivithohil
good order, in his endeavours to esta- the means of answering
blish the paper he was concerned in, and went on to them: Two of his foes*" had Isners the Ohjente of a.
a pledge of support. His impression wasahat-he had charge-which certainly gave him the utmost.surprine
not signed that pa;:er ; but he was willing to admit,—He had never before heard that Gentlemen- who.
from the Hon. and Learned Gentleman s' assertion, acted as his Deputies were' to be prevented from Un-
that it was so. He had long been connected with i dertalslag private practice. Their salaries were
Lanark'hire, arid was a freeholder in the county, and miserable enough, -
considering the importance of the
as such he subscribed to the pledge of support. It ' duties they had to perform; and-when it was remem-
was to be observed that the licentiousness of the bered that it was necessary to have men of talent, and
press at that time was very great, and had caused 'men who were rising at the Bar, it was utterly lab-
six or seven tria'.s in 1820 for blasphemy and sedi- possible that they should be debarred from private
•
tion, and was considered as the main-spring of all practice, It was said then, that these two 'gentlemen
the insurrections about that time in the West of Scot- had signed a paper in favour of a prisoner. But the
land. Under these circumstances he put it to the fact was. they had only done their duty to their client
House, whether it was not natural to accede to the as barristers—(liedr). He did not expect from 'the
recommendation brought to him from a respectable notice, that these matters would have been brought
quarter, and which was only intended to operate As forward, and therefore he had-no means of being in-_
an inducement to others to support the paper? But formed upon these charges. But he knew Mr: Hope
it never could be construed into a pledge to support to be a man of the highest honour and character, and
all the papers emanating from the same source. This quite incapable of the contemptible motives with
paper, however, soon ceased to exist; the types were which he had been charged. This part of the question
sold to a person of the name of Alexander, who, in ought, therefore, to be thrown entirely out of view
conjunction with Borthwick, set up the Glasgow in the decision to which the House was about tocome.l
Sentinel. He asked if it was fair to make him an- The case of Borthwick had been spoken of as if he
Iswerable for this proceeding, which was set a going had been the author of all the acts of oppression tom-
under a different name and place, and after the plained Of by him. But he was quite sure that if Mr.
lapse of a year? It would be the last act of his life Hope could be present, and the whole case seen
to do as had been attributed to him, and he de., through, every part of his conduct would be justified.
dared that he never had the remotest connexion, lie thought a theft had been committed, and a most
either by purchasing, seeing, or promoting in any atrocious theft, by the person charged. He had ob
i
way whatsoever, that paper—( Hear,hear, hear).— tanned the papers by force without a warrant, for it
IHe wished also to state, that the removal of the She- wasno warrant until extracted by a messenger—(hear)
riff. Depute of Lanark was in no way connected with If he was wrong in his opinion, any Hon. and Learned
this transaction. With respezt to the other parts of Gentleman opposite might set him right; but he
the charges, namely, any concern which he might asserted this to be the law. The charge was, that
have had with another Paper, it was certainly true, Borthwick had broken open the private repository of
that in the end of the year 1820, a number of Gen- his partner's papers (even supposing him to be such),
tlemen, of high respectability—and to say that any with a felonious intent. Mr. Hope believed this
'of them could be under his influence, he was sure charge to be true, • and committed him accordingly.
those who knew them would deem impossible—these It was then said that he was put in chains, and con-
Gentlemen informed him, that in consequence of the ducted to prison. He could have do means of ascer-
state of the Press in Scotland, there being a great tanning the truth of this from the nature of the notice
number of seditious publications afloat,they had come which had preceded this motion; but he would ven-
to the resolution of establishing a Piper, in order to cure to say, that no such order had ever been given
meet and refute the-pernicious doctrines and princi- by the Town Council. The liberation of the person
pies which were thus spread over the country. They in question had taken place earlier than was ne-
came to him and said, that £l5OO would be necessary cessary by law, which proved that there was no un-
to establish such a paper, and he gave £lOO towards just detention experienced. The suit of Alexander
it. He did not stand there to deny any part of his being the suit of a private party, the Lord Advocate "
conduct, and he therefore admitted this
_act; and, could not withhold his concourse. He should con-
for the purposes which he had stated, he was prepared dude the observations with which he had to trouble
to say, that it was an honest, fair, and legal one. The the House, by stating that no part of the Government
paper called the Beacon was accordingly established had any connection with or knowledge of the part he
or. the Ist of January, 1821. From that period down took with regard to the Newspaper in question. If
to the June following, he was attending his official wrong had been done, it belonged to him alone, and!
duties in Parliament, and he paid up attention-to the it was 'most right for the Commons of England to
Paper, and knew very little of what it contained.— pronounce the sentence which they always pronounced
The Honourable and Learned Gentleman said that it upon injustice, and which of course would be adequate
contained libels ; but he had read none of them to to his removal from the office he had the honour to
the House, and they were consequently not enabled hold. Should that be the result of their decision, he
to judge whether its contents were libellous or not. should doubtless be succeeded by some one more able:
He was bound to have shewn to the House that it to perform its duties, but by none who would be
did contain libellous matter, belbie he called upon more anxious-than he had always been to exercise its,
them to come to a-vote declaring it to be so. One powers with moderation and impartiality—(Near,'
case only had been decided by the law, and that had hear, hear).—The Honourable and Learned Lord
come on within the last few days. The result of that then retired from the House.
decision did not certainly go to bear out the Hon.- Mr: Secretary PEEL said, he could not suffer the
and Learned Gentleman in-his conclusions. The case question to be disposed of without troubling the
was one in which a Noble Lord opposite was a piney, House with a very few observations. Upon all occa--
and the Jury had given him a verdict of one shilling sions like the present, when individual character and
damages—(Near, hear).—lfthe Noble Lord was satin- personal interests were involved, they had secured to
feed with this.verdict, it was very strange that he the individual the indulgence of the House as far as
had laid his damages at s,oool.—(Near, hear).— was consistent with strict justice. Upon such topics
When he returned to Scotland in June, he received it was generally usual, and it was always wise, to
an intimation from Mr. Gibson that he intended to abstain from topics which appealed to men s passions,-
prosecute him as the proprietor of the Beacon. He and led them from the exercise of their calm and
then sent a copy of the bond to Mr. Gibson, by Mr. sober judgment. Upon the present occasion the Hon.
J. Stuart, who a: as the Agent employed in the affair. and Learned Gentleman, not with the intention of
Soon after this, the correspondence appeared to which doing so in all probability, had appealed to some
the -Hon. and Learned Member alluded. The letter topics highly calculated to create an unjust and un-
which gave rise to it was a private and confidential due prejudice against his Learned Friend. One was
one, and never intended to be considered in any other his allusion to the widow and children of the late Sir
light by the writer. The words of the bond declared A. Boswell ; and another to the death of an indivi-
it to be expressly understood that he should have no dual who unfortunately lost his life in a similar man-
property in the said newspaper, and no responsibility nor, Mr. Scott, who had still less connection with the
for its contents. He never was, therefore, a proprietor, case before the House. He did, therefore, think that
and had no controul whatever over its management. the Hon. and Learned Gentleman would have better.'
The Hon. and Learned Gentleman had said that, in discharged his duty by abstaining from the mention:
law, he was a proprietor ; but that question was to of these circumstances. Then, again, he had brought,
be tried before the Jury Court of Scotland in about forward the language of Mr. Hope and Mr. Macneill,
ten days, and he would put it to the House whether used in a private conversation, in a private place, and
it could fairly anticipate or prejudge a question which with a private client—(Hear, hear). He took this to
stood for the decision of a Court of law?—(Hear).— be a very bad precedent to set—(Cheers)—and if it
He gave his £lOO for the reasons he had already had created any prejudice against his Learned Friend,
stated, and when he saw the Paper came out he he called upon the House to discharge it altogether
found it a very dull and stupid document, and con- from their minds. The House would permit him to
eluded that his money was gone, and there was an examine the case which had been presented for their
end of it. But when he heard that the contents of consideration, and to refer to the charges that had
the Paper had given personal offence to individuals, been adduced, in the order in which they occurred
he immediately withdrew his security upon the bond, in the Honourable and Learned Gentleman's speech.
and the other Gentlemen concerned did the same.— The first was, that of connection and support given
As a private individual, he apprehended that nothing to the Correspondent ; and they had his Learned
could be objected to the part he had taken in this Friend's declaration upon his honour, that he had had
affair ; and it still remained to be shewn how his offi- no connection with that paper whatever. In the
cial situation would be affected by it. If a private same manner was the charge as relating to the Sen-
libel appeared in the Paper, by the law of Scotland !ine/ refuted. With regard to the recummendation
it could not be proceeded against by a criminal in- of the Clydesdale Journal, the first communication
formation ; the parties must proceed by private action. with Borthwick strewed the animus of his Learned
Therefore he was still to learn how his official duties Friend's conduct, and proved that he never meant to
could have been compromised, even if he had sup- give encouragement to private slander, or to extend
ported the Paper, knowing it to be the channel of any undue patronage to the press. He next came to
private libels. Libels upon the Crown were certainly the appointment of Mr. Alton, as Under Sheriff, in
not very li4ely to appear in a Paper setting out with which his LearnelFriend was represented as having
the principles which had induced him to give it his used his influence to procure him that appointment,
support; and he should like to hear in what way it in consequence of his connection with the papers in
was possible that his connection with it should inter- question. The fact was, that he (Mr. Peel), being
fere with the strict discharge of his duty—
(Hear).— the author of the measure which created the vacancy,
When he entered into that connection, he saw before suffered two months to elapse before he recommended
him the great number of prosecutions instituted for any one to his Majesty as a proper person to fill it
seditious crimes, and the many unhappy persons ten- up. He did this in order that time might be allowed
taxed to death for engaging in rebellion, and all this for persons to send in their names, who wished to
he considered to be the consequence of the licentious. undertake the office. A Noble Friend of tins, the
ness of the press in the western parts of ,Scotland. First Lord of the Admiralty, being then about to
This was all that occurred to his mind at the time, go into Scotland, he gave him the names, and re-
and as soon as he found the complaints made, he quested that he would inquire of the high law audio-
withdrew from it altogether. These were all facts rides there, who was the fittest persons for the office,
he admitted, and the other charges which related to
7.llris was done, and plr. Aiken was selected.
This
him were, as he 444 4ieb.v.u, wirou4sia, No was the history of his appointment, and this sees the
further inquiry was therefore necessary,
end :t ate. answer to that part of the charge—(Cheers)
House was as well qualified to come to the vote at then came to the subject of the Beacon,' ind•it was;
ould be e.rie perfectly true that his Learned Friend bad entered into
Race upon his consluat, as eve it c .
. were a the observations with which 'he had to trou- -tkis sort of security forks support. It was perfectly