The Statesman.
London, England, 1810-06-22 00:00:00

.•
1 ~,.%

-~, M

CLAIMS OF PARLIAMENT.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STATESMAN..
Six,—As far as my researches have extended
into the Constitution of this country; I have con.

mired myself justified in concluding that the
most dignified object of our veneration is the ac,'
knowledged Law of the Land, to whose pars.

mount authority the splendours of the Executive
Power, and the separate influence of ilithe;• House

of Parliament are equally subordinate; that the
next place in our respect is claimed by the dignity

of the Executive branch of Government, invested
with the administration of the Law, and the efa.

dent tnauagement of public business; and that

he two Houses of Legislature, separately coo.

sidered, form the last gradation in the scale of
dignity and importance.
Out, in opposition to this arrangement, we dis.
cover in the late proceedings of the House of Com.

mons, an assumption of dignity. and power, supe.
rior to that which belongs to the prerogative or
the Monarch, or to the united act of the King,

Lords, and Commons, in Parliament assemb:cd.
It is remarked by Mr. Justice BLACKSTONE in his
Commentaries, that a law once formally enacted
by the British Legislature, is, in a manlier, (mai.
potent within these realms, since no appeal can
be made against such an instrument, to any other

earthly tribunal.—Suchl Sir," is the transcendaut

authority of an Act of Parliament; yet obserto
how the noble spirit of our Coustitutiou rises to

a still loftier pitch, and whilst it subjects the peo-

pie to the dominion of the law, submits the law
itself to the higher controul of reasort. For, it is
the undoubted right of every inhabitant of this
country, a right which constitutes the chief dis.

tinctiun between a free and despotic form of Go.
veronica, a right which, springing from the very

root of our Constitution, can never, whilst

English liberty is more than a mime, such MI
alteration or shadow of change, to discuss pri.

vately and publicly the expediency and policy nf
any branch of the law ; to expose by argitinuit ha
unconstitutional tendency, and to recommend such
improvements as suggest themselves to his tinder.
standing. If this were not an avowed privilege of
the people, what' would be the situation of that
very considerable portion of the nation, who at
this moment profess their disapprobation of the
present confined and corrupt mode of assembling
the House of Commons, and demand a purer and
more equal representation ? or hoW could the
public mind have . been authorized to interfere
with such decisive. energy in the causes of African
and Catholic Emancipation? There can exist no
doubt thgt an English subject has an express right
to question with impunity the propriety of any act
of the legislature, or the existence of any alleged
point of law, either by abstract reasoning, or by
a reference to the Courts of Justice. Yet, Sir,
the indefinite privilege of Parliament (which is de,
dared, or in other terms, created by the autho.
rity of the House of Commons alum.) arrogates
to itself an infallibility posseised by no other
branch of the law, punishing with indefinite im.
frisotiment as well those who 'argue against the
elistence or legality of their privileges, as those
Who are desirous of submitting those privilege' to
the decision of any regular Courts of Law. SO
far inforior is the united act of the three legislative
alma to the simple Privilege of Parliament.
It will next appear how humbly the star of
Itoyalty " hides its diminished head" bu(ore the
surpassing lash of Parliamentary Privilege. In
the first place, the prerogative' deems It no de+
gradation of its rank to appear face to face with
the subject, in all legal disputes, at the impartial
tribunals of the law ; nor dues it, under the pro%
text of superior dignity, or of an apprehension
that its just claims would not be respected in tho
UMW forms of trial, pretend to take such Cases
gs involve its own interests, under its uwti
dime cognizauce. In the next place, it Is allows.
ble to comment upon the conduct of the executive
power, throughout all the departments of its duty,
in terms of pretty strong animadversion, as the
daily language of the public tongue and pea suffi-
ciently , testify. But such is the distrait which
the democratic branch of government entertains
of entrusting its privileges in the hands of the pee.
ple, from which it proceeds, or such the predumi.
nance of its dignity, that it refuses to confide its
•
rights to that grand and sacred depositary of the
•laws— the breast of a J ury ; ur to condescend to
litigate iii those Courts where the Sovereign is not
asliattied to appear.' And such is the superior
saucily which, according to the provisions of prix
vilege, surrounds the person of a senator, that
language of disapprobation, which is irreproach,
ably correct when addressed to the high function.%
aries of the state, becomes, when applied to the
erring or guilty senator, the summary passport to.
Newgate or the Tower !—So inconsiderable is the
dignity of the Crown and its officers, in conipari.
son with the indefinite Privilege of Parliament.
Now, it is not my intention, Sir, in the present
letter, to enquire how long or how often powers
like thesti have been exercised by the House of
Commons; nor whether they have acquired a
prescriptive validity, by the long period of their
continuance; but, according to my appreliensiou,
whether legalized or nut, they can never be recon-
ciled to the true standard of the Constitution. I
will take an early opportunity of observing upon
the principal arguments advanced in support of
these obnoxious privileges, exclusive of that de-
rived froni their antiquity, Which, in the case of
bad law, I have always considered as enhancing
the necessity of its abolition.
.. I am,
Chester, hoe 15th, 1810. R.