The Statesman.
London, England, 1810-07-07 00:00:00

combined legieledi? power; and in a much greater
degree, is the authority'of. each individual House
of Parliament limited by ,acknowledged law.—
But the different branches of our government
have, at times, advanced pretensions beyond their
!flat functions, and subversive of the• rights of
the other supreme estates; and it is evident that
in extraordinary cenjonetures of this nature, no
remedy can be assigned by the common actor the
legislative bodies, which are themselves in a state
of dissension, In circumstances like these, when
nn suitable regulations either previously exist; or
can be framed specially for the occasion, the con.
ii;cti'ig parties of government' may resort to a de.
(largo ,n of indefinite privilege, which, this
case, is not admitted to he law, until the differ.
owes between the several branches of legislature
render their common acquiescence, upon that
subject, impracticable. To provide against such
contiogeneies, the privileges of Parliament have:
been allowed to remain open and undefined ; and,
if siewe.l in this aspect alone, present nothing in
contradiction to the ustiat enactment or idminis.
tration of the law, or dangerous to the liberty of
the people. Ilia whets these indefinite privileges,
which were evidently only intended to supply the
absence of law, venture to dispossess it, and to
assume its rightful office ; when their operation is
diretted; not 'against thole political bodies, who
are not punishable for their conduct by the cow.,
wary rules of. law, and which these privileges
were therefore designed to restrain, but against at
prints iodivisloal, amenable to the usual Cowls
of justice, and completely within the grasp. of
existing legal penalties;—when those unlimited
powers, which were cooferred only for the par.
pose of meeting- the pressing emergencies of the
State, in times of great commotion, and conten.
tion between the several portions of our govern.
scent, are exerted, during a period of perfect nna.
mity in Parliament, to overwhelm a defenceless
person, to whose conduct they were never meant
to refer, I cannot, for a moment, hesitate to
pronounce them hostile to the genius of our
Constitution, contradictory to written and anwrit.
ten law, tyrannical in their origin and execution,
and destructive of the'liberty of the subject.
Never, Sir, slid the Constitution and laws of
tl.is country suffer a more flagrant and dangerous
violation, then at the time when the authority of
ittdefinite privilege of Parliament wen first gene.
rally extended over the subjects of this realm.
Is, indeed, the streetale of our criminal code so
imperfect, and inadequate to the Becessifica of the
Stite,eo defective in its provisions, and so imbecile
in its executionatat we are conspellsol.to repose a
discretionary power of declaring and punishing
crimes, in the hands of the separate houses of le-
gislature? Is it, Mewl, possible, that offeoese,
against which no penal preparation has beeiret
made, and which the wide experience and sari*
•
vigilance of our settled laws are incompetcw.4o:
detect and punish, may yet start to light,
quire fur their suppression the interference of girt.
limited privilege ? It is, Sir, by express and pub-,
lislied taw alone that the conduct of an English
subject :a regulated ; and that UsVi the Itablutlai
late experience of ages, is sufficiently coMpre‘ •
bensfssr and' explicit la all its .probibitlona and
junctions and if o case'should ocCisitinally
cur, -whlehlbe. wisdom-of the toghlaturtr has tell
anticipated, fitse requisite remedy can only be ap."
plied by the conitly et authority uf the King, Lordt,
and caosseons) fis k'arliament assembled. '"
I am,. . • ~
cisesiae; Selyl,l3lo. 8.
mimemnit

dwThoTsday evening, hits MAICATY, and Pries.
tests BuzAatertt and Sopai M , Walked on Wind.
sor.Terrace, till near nine o'clock. His MAJzstle
was accompanied by LcirAs ST. IiRLEN'S„.BOSTHIIs
UlcilitiDGE, and 'DARTMOUTH.; the Bishop of
Wißenztreit Lidice "COLLTWIt 'Sand BOSTOIre
Generals Cierw maim' and GARTH ;and Colonel
Dsisitow ; whilst the bands of Royal Horse.
Guards (Blues) and Stafford Militia• played many
martial and pleasing tunes.
Yesterday morning his MAJISTY; the DAR of.
CAmsarDOE, and Princesses AUGUSTA and Suenta,
aceompanied by Lord ST. HELENS, Generale.,
GARTH and CARTWRIGHT, Lady CoLLTER, and
Colonels TATLon'and Desenow, took an aidng.
in Windsor Great Park, till twelve o'clocL
The Princess of WALES, preceded by an out.
tiler, drove through several of the principal streets
of the metropolis yesterday afteruoon, attended by
a Lady, in a phaeton, drawn by four bays; with
two postilliong...
.Bri..cradier.General lioNTAeve MATffew, M. P.
ba. left Cheltenham, fur Swansea, in South Wales.
If all the Gentlemen who are called to the Bar
had any business to do at the Bar, dot Courts of
Justice must soon be enlarged to double their pre.
a ot size.
The Qui Tam Attornics and Gaming-house
Proprietors have had a serious altereation,in
sequence- uU the latter not coming dozen regularly
with the hash-money.
The late order of the Governer of Botany Bay.
to restrict the convicts from acting as Counsellors,
was pectliarly hard; when it is, coesidered• that
most of these genilemcm had been regularly called
to the bur;
: A gang of pickpockets,• headed by the noteri-
tUS 808 BARRET and NED ELIAS, have lately ar.
rived in town from a plantkring country exeur-
siiiii, and tire now paying particular attention to
the Landon trade.

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