The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-02-21 00:00:00

law of the land, The House of Commons may rely
upon it that nineteen men out of twenty of the popula-
tion of Great Britain, if appealed to, would pronounce
their recent proceedings, in the case of Stockdale versus
Hansard, as contrary to both law and equity—as gross-
ly tyrannical and oppressive—and as subversive of the
liberty of the subject. We have not met with a single
individual who would , pronounce any other sentence
than one of unqualified condemnation on the whole of
these arbitrary and unprecedented proceedings. The
natural exclamation on witnessing such an invasion of
the rights of Englishmen as that in which the House
of Commons has been, for the last month, engaged,
is, " thank God that we have a House of Lords."
Since the passing of the reform act, the House of
Commons has been gradually degenerating in charac.
ter, until, at length, it is generally acknowledged, even
by those who clamoured for " the bill. the whole bill,
and nothing but the bill," that the liberties of English-
men were in safer custody under the old system of
rotten boroughs than they are at present. The liberals
in that assembly have fully justified the predictions of
the conservative press, when it warned the country
that the advent of the self-styled reformers to office
would be the commencement of " a reign of terror,"
The last act by which the " tyrant majority" have
chosen to signalise themselves has been the committal
to Newgate of the son of Howard, the Solicitor of
Stockdale, who is a youth of nineteen, articled to his
father, and acting under his instructions, and a poor
clerk of the name of Pearce, whose only offence ap-
pears to be that he faithfully discharged his duty to his
employer. Against these persons—the one insignifi-
cant on account of his youth, and the other on account
of his subordinate capacity—the House of Commons
has proclaimed war. 'What a glorious enterprise !
How worthy of a British Senate

Is it not time that the House of Commons should
be checked in its insane crusade against the law and
its administrators ? Is it not time that public meetings
should be held in every part of the country to protest
against such a monstrous assumption of authority as
that which the House. of Commons has arrogated to
itself ? Is it not time that the people of Liverpool
should- make some stir in this matter ? Do we really
live in a free country ? Are we in the enjoyment of
free institutions? Are our laws any thing more than
a dead letter ? We understand that ward meetings are
to be held in London to consider the case of those
whom the House of Commons have wantonly com-
mitted to prison for presuming to seek and administer
justice. Why should not Liverpool follow the exam-
ple ? Let us show that we value the privileges which
are secured to us by the laws of the land. A firm and
unanimous remonstrance may yet bring the “tyz ant
majority" to their senses. We therefore call upon all
classes of our townsmen to join in such a remonstrance.
Ilet the matter be brought to a crisis in one way or
another.

An intelligent correspondent of the Morning Herald
says that he "knows no question more proper for the
shibboleth of a constitutional party than this is." We
Perfectly coincide with him in this sentiment. The
Conservatives ought to take up this question as their
shibboleth. Let it be the ground of a general appeal
to the feelings of the nation. We have no doubt of
the result of such appeal. It would issue in the utter
consternation and discomfiture of the " tyrant ma-
jority." It would effectually repel the invasion of
liberty of which the House of Commons has been
guilty. 1 •

We deeply lament that several of the Conserva-
tive leaders, including Sir Robert. Peel himself, have
been betrayed into a false position on this question of
privilege. We hesitate not to say that they have ma-
terially injured their reputation by their. active co-
operation with the Whig despots of the House of
Commons. It is not, however, too late for them to
retrieve their error, • Many of them are, no doubt,
anxious to undo what they have done. They now
perceive that they have been unwittingly aiding the
enemies of the Constitution in one 'of the most de-
termined attacks ever yet made upon the liber-
ties of Englishmen. . They now see that the uni-
versal voice of the Conservative press of Great
Britain and Ireland is against the monstrous preten-
sions of the House of Commons. Let them summon
moral courage enough to acknowledge their error, and
to commence the work of reparation. If they do not,
they will have to answer for it at the hustings. It is,
indeed, grievous_ to have to express ourselves in terms
of such strong remonstrance : but the truth must not
be either concealed or postponed to mere party consi-
derations. There prevails throughout the country a
feeling of deep and intense indignation against the late
unprecedented assumption of power on the part of the
House of Commons. Englishmen feel that trial by
jury —not unaptly designated the Palladium of our liber-
ties—has been attacked ; and they cannot be expected
w
to brook such an indignity without even offering a re-
monstrance.

Let the Conservatives of Liverpool, we say once more,
show that they will not suffer the House of Commons
to ride rough-shod over the liberties of Englishmen.