Star.
London, England, 1823-05-27 00:00:00

Mr NI:%1 FORT moved that the Chairman be'
di - dto ask the witness in what book, chapters
fetus OA. OW Testament, the passages read to
.4414%."PsotPribAt their initiation were tole found.
r. AldeiMin WOOD rose amidst loud crlet•rif
6 Quetti6n 1 thought the'eoerse Which ought
th be.Ptsistied,-in justice.to the *wive, was to inc*
chterthepassages•suppesed to be rerutto Orangemen
and askhim whether he recrillected
them. He bad not taken any part in ark inquiry
:hitherto, but he wal'as anxious for Justice *as' any
Member oritiat frOuse(*Cries of Question r 5 tie
seas'iset to be told to set down, and he believed the
rionae-and-thrbiteblie were pretty well aware that he
.was-asopa raseuito,be set down very easily (a lase.)
. . Sicectary- C NNI NP agreed. in the
,Proprrety
bf the istrigestioti ' the worthy Alderman, 'whose
kivie t)4nPatlileewithstlie witness were entitled to the
zeipect•of the Slouse4:44.larrgh), and who, if he were
not easily set down, must at ieMt be acintittod,to ba
?hung ,very tnucis at his ease-..(Myth Lasghter. The,
tool thy :44/ernerief oxis, rue ber;ioe, extended on Me
bench on ichicli heiuhr siting). • • '••
NEWPORT rnanitlfiffed that the belt way
of eliciting: they trbth waste call upon: the witness t 0...
state She.pirticular book, chapter, and verse, and pb-;
jacked
,to ,the tentative process of pointing, put any 1
liartieulit verses.
Aft4t few w o?ds frorn Lord NI rtfotiandMi.Eccts,
me 01 Ain M'A ti read the- Motion;' that the fol-
lowing question- be put•by • the Chairman .to the wit,
riese:4lo whathook, chapter, and verse of the Old,
I.9llment are those passages to be found which are
r fOOrangemen at their initiation?
Iitr.BANKS'S objected to putting any tiestion,
revelant tb the object of the inquiry, which might give
unnecessary painto the conscience ofthe witness.
- Mr. J. WILLIAMS contended, that the Commit-
tee had a, right to know what the passages *ere, in
order ttir decide. if they Were obligations,' Ai toeieby
: .
signs-and synibols.

Mr. K. DOUGLAS objected to the question.. •
The Committee then divided;—For putting the
Question, 87-4gaiust it, 117—Majority 3D.. • •
Mr. BROUGHAM wished he could conceal frotg.
himself_ the tendency of the decision to which rte
COmmittee had just come. In his opinion, that ten;
dency was to encourage unlawful associations and'
unlawful oaths. • Those who voted with the majority
on the last division, from motives of religion, hadi
he could assure them, encouraged a practice which
went to cut up all sound religion by the roots. These'
oaths were not only illegal, but were irriligitmi ind
profane. This was the opinion of the Judges, who even
thought that they were blasphemous oaths; and,;, for
his own part, although lie did not defend the .conduct.
oldie poor people who had. been indicted and pu-
nished for blasphemy, he thought the Oaths in clues;
don much more objectionable than their conduct.
He thought, indeed, that they were the worst practi-
cal blaspitemy. Instead of inquiring whether. a ques-
tion would be proper or improper, the Committee
appeared to have decided an inquiry whether it would
be agreeable or disagreeable to Alderman King to
answer it. He really thought that, this being the
case, the Committee should abstain from humiliating
themselves any further—(Hear, hear). Stilt how.
ever, he advised his Right Hon.l7liend to go on with
the examination. As for the oaths, the Lord Chief
Justice and the Attorney-Oeneril for Ireland had de-
clared them to be illegal; it was clear that Alderman
King had been guilty of a misdemeanour in taking the
oath ; 'end yet the Committee had resolved to allow'
him to p'ue forth that very misdemeanour as a shelter
against hisexamination ; or, at least, such part of it
* Was disagreeable to him. This question involved
the very existence of Parliament ; for no other ques-
tion had ever, in his Parliamentary life, come before
the }IOW a millionth part so important as this. The
case of Sir Francis Burdett, some years since, was not
like the present. Sir Francis had offered no obstruc-
tion to the proceedings of the House ; be had spoken:
lightly of something the House had done a tuenth
before, and the House sent him. so the Tower; though
the same doctrine aboUt• martyrdom had been ad-
vanced in this case as wa_s_put 'forth 'in-that. Mr.
Windham, in particular, was anxious to deprive Sir
I?rancis Burdett of the honour of rairtYrdnm. But,
after *hit had. been done in this case of Sir Abraham
Kingdie really should like to see the House hereafter.
dot Dog its vengeance upon some unfortunate printer
Who had no friend at Cpurt,(Hear, hear). If, on such
an occasion, the printer were to say—.4l I belong to
the Journeymen Printers' Masonic Society, and have
ewOrn not to reveal vihat passes in it: my conscience
is tender, and I beg you will not press my to violate my
001,10—If this should be the Carle; he should like to see
any Minister ask the House to send that man to prison,
and become . a putt' tO • its own hhmiliation.—
House of Corntiaons, by its vote to-aight, bad set
in own privileges at nought; it had' committed an
act of abdication; it had been guilty.pf suicide; it
was no longer a House of Commons to any praCtical
purpose; and, to complete its destruction, it only re-
mained that somebody, as once before happened,
should come in and take that the mace) from the
table which was 'now placed war it, who, perhaps,
would ask what brought them there, and if answered
that " they were, seeking the LORD,I! would. reply,
" that, to his knowledge, the Loab had not been there
for a long time," then kick and cif them out, put.
•
the key intis pocket, and go toWhitehall
- • Mr. C. WILSON consiieted the question as alto-
gether irrelevant to the question before the House.
Sir A. B. King was then,recalled, and the folloir-
ing question put to him by Sir joule : •
Is the &Uplift giseatte,ter thy past of nevoid ita.s eleather
at Mr adintatean into ab Grasp Sorbet, , ray shoe after I--
" And stayie not, hoc
.atar yew (sewn, sad
_indte the
Idndmoit of than • thee bat of Nesaite fur
'the Lbws /out Obi hadeddivorsit dna has yens htadn—Not
vnird 04.11--4 Hsu, leer).
therebnithiof riailiblintellaktNAtot that I knew4sl
1, U.
bad teasabf•kotiptinlaiga old t4-44int of troosoil
gy its jilitopossapte—pat the tots that are 1.4% and sd, to
be used as sitassisi'drobis betlio ottliftbetorsetteh.
linbei ? • • • • • • 4, • • ;r v ".
WI jiXIMIX ObleatAil 1q,14411/4.4"17
_pas/00m was ordered to Withdriir.
11r.1311:0116HASI would put are 'qbeitleliftbeed—
if any *Ohs thillttotheiSttsversebfitletb
trapfter brthe Weir of Jcieheareara seeklit thltinitie;
Abn of ilse "Orisgesnen ? . $
. hit„Ptursio wonld ohject to At question is
.04 p
thnngh sheoula not'ObjeCt Silt:els
petal fora!).
tion as to a Artitullti. Arse. : • .1
'Clildfel WARR" Whbeil the NoostiosAstim. put
ct---.,.-riottibel, 'or fat rf w symbol, 4111 the,