Star.
London, England, 1821-03-16 00:00:00

COMPLAINT AGAINST A NEWSPAPER.

Sir R. FERGUSON rose to call the attention of
the House to a paragraph in the Morning Post
Newspaper, in which his Hon. Friend, the Member
for Appleby (alr. Creevey), and the other Members
who voted on the same side with him the other night,
in the House, were most grossly libelled, and Made.',
with the names of Jacobius, men pursuing private
views, and, in fact, with every gross appellation that
the ingenuity of the writer, or his malice, could
suggest—(Hear, bear).—This paragraph his friends
treated with the profound contempt which it merited;
and it would have been for ever passed over in
silence, but that in the same Paper, of this day, there
was a fresh attack made—an attack, too, of a differ-
ent and mdre aggravated complexion from the former,
as, unlike that, it struck not at the political conduct
of his Hew. Friend, but at his private and personal
character—(Hear).—The paragraph to which he
alluded appeared in a ra..ter, signed " An English-
man," but whether the author was an Englishman or
not, he (Sir R. Ferguson) would not say; all he knew
was, that if he bote the name of an Englishman, he
had neither a spark of his generous feelings, nor in-
deed of any feelings of a gentleman—(Near, hear).
In that letter the Hon. Member for Appleby was, by
a sort of blue/trio, accused of cowardice in an affair
of honour which he had, some time ago, with an
Hon. Baronet, a Member of this House, but whom
he did not see in his place. New, as it happened
that he (Sir R. Ferguson) was on that occasion' con•
stilted by, and acted as the friend of the Hon. Mem-
ber for Appleby, he was enabled to say that this in.
sinuation was utterly false and unfounded; and, in-
deed, .as the circumstances occurred, if there was
any dereliction of honourable manliness in any
quarter,.it must have been attributable to him (Sir
lt. Ferguson), who managed the whole affair, and
not to the Hon. Meniber for Appleby. He called
upon a Noble Lord opposite (Binning), who acted as
the friend of the Hon. Baronet in question, to verify
his statement. When, in consequence of something
which fell from the Hon. Member for Appleby, in
that House, an explanation was demanded by the
Him. Baronet, he (Sir It. Ferguson) waited upon the
Noble Lord, and an explanation took place—an ex •
planation satisfactory to all parties, and which he (Sir.
It. Ferguson) now asserted was consistent' with the
most strictly honourable feelings in our nature—
(Hear).—As he said before, he was then friend to the
Member for Appleby, and he felt it due to himself
(who was indirectly attacked), as well as to the Hon.
Member, to state the case as it occurred in fact, and
he believed few Gentlemen in that House, who knew
him (Sir It. Ferguson) would think that, on an occa-
sion‘of this sort, he was one to compromise either
his own honour or that of his friend( Hear, hear).
—He had seen something like this before in a Sunday
production, which he believed was called John Bull,
and which said production was one of the greatest
stains on the Press of this country ; for a more ma-
lignant—more base—more cowardly—or more ras-
.eally—(Herd-)--publication, never reared its head!—
So long as the Press confined itself to the fair sup-
port of one party or another, it was all very well;
and he would go as far as any man to protect it ;'
but when a wretched libeller set out with an avowed
intention of diving into private character—(Hear);
—when he flung away all respect for private feeling
—( Hear )—when, not content with attacking the
virtuous living—(Hear)--he raked up the ashes of
the virtuous dead, then was it time lbr every man to
cry shame, and pronounce the work a scandal to the j
country !--(Hear, hear, hear).—The gallant General'
raid, he did not mean to follow np his observations
by any motion, in imitationtsf the Hon. Member for
Yorkshire, of calling the printer to the bar, but he
thought it was a duty incumbent on him to expose
him to the Public, and in so doing to save his own
honour, and -vindicate that of his friend. He con-,
eluded by expressing a hope that the Noble Lord
opposite (Binning) would givehis sanction to the stale-'
Meat he had made.

Lord BINNING rose with great readiness to an-
swer the call of the gallant General, and he agreed
with him, that when matters of this sort were settled
to the satisfaction of the parties concerned, they
ought not to be ripped up again, as they could tend
to no other good than to perpetuate unpleasant feel-
ings. ' The gallant General had asked, whether he
(Sir R. Ferguson) had not properly characterized
the paragraph in question? and he (Lord Binning)
thought he had ; for he would now say, that on the
occasion alluded to, nothing occurred which was not
in the highest degree honourable to all parties. The
gallant General and he (Lord Binning) were quite
satisfied as to the manner in which the whole was
concluded ; and he thought after that, it was most
indecorous and criminal in a third party to revive
any recollection of the transaction. With regard to
the part taken by the gallant General, no man could
have acted more properly; and he was sure, he was
the last man in the world who would do anything to
forfeit his own character as a man, a' compromise
that of his friend as a Gentleman—(Hear, hear).
Mr. BEItNAL bore testimony to the libellous
character of the paragraph; but he thought it was
properly treated, by -being passed by in silent con-
tempt. He was sure the Honourable Member for
Yorkshire would at least confess that the conduct of
the Opposition was in this respect perfectly con-
sistent with itself.
_

Lord BINNING begged to add one word to the
statement he had already made. He wished it to be
understood that the revival of the recollection of the
transaction alluded to by the gallant General, was
most painful as-well to his (Lord Binning's) feelings,
AS to those of the Honourable Baronet who was more'
immediately concerned. Nothing could distress the
Honourable Baronet more than any recurrence to a
transaction of this sort, which, when once over, ought
to be for ever buried in oblivion.
Sir It. FERGUSON was convinced of the sincerity
of the declaration made by the Noble Lord, and he
would now assure him, chat this revival was a sub
ject of pain to himself and his friend.
Mr. S. WORTLEY being alluded to, for the part
which lie took the other night against the Morning
Chronicle, was bound, in justice to that Paper, now
to say, that the next day there appeared a paragral h
highly honourable to the Editor—(lJear, hear).
111 r. HARBORD was about to make some obser-
vations, but
The SPEAKER interposed, and suggested, that
as those who were more immediately concerned had
given up the idea of prosecuting this m•itter further,
any prolongation of the discussion could answer no
purpose whatever.—The matter then dropped.