Star.
London, England, 1811-03-05 00:00:00

HOUSE OF LORDS, MARCH 4.
The Coroner of the County of Surrey, in compliance with the
Motion of Lord Hot.t.neo, anti the Order of their lArtishipi,
presented a Copy of the Proceedings of the INuest on the body
of William Cullom, who died in the Marshal•ea prison, in con-
ociliseme, as it was said, of the ettseme want of the necessaries
I.le.

.

BERKELEY PEERAGE.
In a Committee of Privileges it was moved. That an Address i
be presented to the
°Prince Regent, praying Ilk Royal Highness
would be graciously pleased to appoint a Law Officer of the
Crown to attend to the interests of the younger brother in this
Important cause.
The Resolution was afterwards reported to the liaise, and att
Address moved accordingly.
IRELAND.
Lord DARNLEY, alluding to certain documents which bad
been moved respecting the revenue, and other circumstances of
kellomd, wished to know when these documents would be pro-
emial? Every thing wl.ich regarded that part of the Empire,
4tined, in his opinion, the most serious attention of their Lord-
'-illaps, particularly at the present moment ; and he should feel it
bie duty to bring these circumstances under their Lordships' con-
alaersOon. , I
The Earl of LIVERPOOL acknowledged, that the affairs of
Imiand claimed every attentions on the part of that louse, and
pearlised to inquire when the Papers referred to by the Noble
bad Would be ready to be laid on the table.
Lard DARNLEY could not now fix the particular day on
alias he should bring forward a motion on the subject he had
alluded to, ba. it would be some time atout the dose of the en-
NOM woel.
INFORMATIONS El OFFICIO.
Lord HOLLAND rose to bring forward the mo-I
tien of which he had given due notice, respecting the
increase of the number of informations filed ex ea*
by his Majesty's Attorney-General in cases of libel,
:VChat taken place within these few years, and, in
, in his opinion, there might be just grounds of I
appicion, that political partiality and bias bore no
• spell share. When he ventured to give that notice,
be Conceived he was acting a .part perfectly confor-
, liable to the spirit of the Constitution, and indeed so
concordant to parliamentary practice, that he, by no
means, apprehended that his motion could meet with
any opposition, " But he had since learned that it was
the intents= of same Noble Lords to oppose it ; and
therefore felt himself under the necessity of stating.
more at length than he originally intended, the
,grounds upon which he had :o rest the propriety of
Isis motion. When he considered the nature of that
motion, he certainly was at a loss to conjecture the
sort of objections that could be urged against it. For'
in-the first place, it did riot go to pledge their Lord-
ships' House to any particular opinion whatsoever ;
but merely called for the production of documents re-
lative to the administration of justice in cases of libel ;
documents which, in his opinion, should be open to
every one, and which should be inspected with vigilance
at id j;ralnusy. At the opening of every Parliament,
* Committee of Justice were appointed, and to
every case where the rights and liberties of the subject!
were concerned, the attention of Parliament was di-
rected, not occasionally and accidentally, but uni-
formly and unremittingly. In cases of libel these
rights and liberties were affected, and therefore it be-
hoved Parliament to inquire into the numoer and na-
ture of the informations filed in the lower Courts, and
into the proceedings which had been had in conse-
quence. There was a Committee now sitting on the
nature of the Revenue Laws, as far as they might
affect the life of the subject, in order to gain informa-
tion how those laws might be amended. In the same
manner he thought there could be no impropriety in
instituting an inquiry into the object of his present'
motion, without making any reference to any parti-
Ida alante.alt was well hnown, that not later than.
two or are, years ago, an Act was passed which al-
tired the' fthidatnental laW at the land in matter of
libel, which altered the uninterrupted stream of preCe;
dents upon which all law was founded, and which gave
to the will, to the simple conviction and conscience of,
one man, all the force of a regular Bill of Indictment,
without the necessity of offering any reason for such a
mode of ptoceeding. The only reason which he could
see to justify such a practic,e was, that it might maw;
tile the Attorney-General to hold the accused person
to bail, and thus secure him until he could be conve-
niently brought to trial. Has this authority and power
recently invested in the Attorney-General, tended to
prevent libels ; or rather, has not their number in-
creased i This was a point he should not now dwpll
deon ; nor would he proceed on the narrow ground
oi the late alteration in the law. He might be ac-
cused of presumption in calling the attention of their
Lordships to the administration of justice in this par-
ticular, while persons so eminently qualified for such
an undertaking, persons so fully and correctly con-
versant with all the proceedings, persons who equally
enjoy private respect and public admiration, see no
necessity for such an undertaking. It would indeed
be high presumption in him to risk such an attempt,
if he was not countenanced in it by the -opinion and
authority of the most distinguished Lawyers, who
contended that no class of persons should monopolise
to themselves the observations that should be made
-for the improvement of the law ; and he would not
hesitate to speak his mind to that effect in the presence
of a Noble and Learned Lord (Ellenborough), than
by whom justice was never more purely or ably ad-
Ministered. He should now state the line of his mo-
tion. He should not meddle with the law of libel,'
still less would he attempt to define what a libel was.
In the nature of things such a definition wasl very
difficult. The law of libel, with the exception of trea-
son, staid: on more difficult grounds than any other,
because how can libels well be separated from the
political feelings of the day, or from the existing pre-
judices with respect to the persons whom they may
. Uffect ? This influence pervades even the Juries, and
• even those who bring such offenders to punishment
may be considered as so biassed that they are led al-
ready to hold the accused in the light of a criminal.
For in cases of libel as well as of treason, it is na-
tural to feel unfavourably with regard to those who
would stand up in opposition to power ; and men art
• inclined to consider as libeflous those who attempt at
free discussion, and to treat them as such, chiefly with
a view to stifle free -discussion. It is impossible so
anxiously to guard against such a disposition, as
would check the discuasion of public affairs, and prove
fatal to the liberty of the press. In what he had to
off-:r on these points, he should be guided by the
highest law authorities, nor would he deny, that, in
no case, and under no necessity, were informations
sir officio legal. Their Lordships would recollect the
/rising of Lord Hale on this sobjectiwhieh was after.
IN .rits adopted by Claf Jaatice hlalr, visa that it Wrif'

PARLIAMENTAR7' PROCEEDINGS.