The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-09-02 00:00:00

I ..rta.el were they called in. and ittf..rmed by
Ti.' Lost') tti Olt•Yl.i.ult. that the 'lease directed
him to inform thetu, that in their r,-4.,4.!tsttnination
they would not be Allowed to put any tittc,tion to
any fart which h.sti n.tt previert4ly appeared in eel-
deuce. lie was further direced to inf-rte thi m. that
they could ask no questions wi to a letter %%Mel, they
had nut 'hews to the witnrs not (*untd they be al-
I •oeti to examine as to the content-. of that letter
wi•Lout %besting the whole of It, and that the %%lines,
I ad admitted it to be her writittL-.

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The setetaf letters of the tritnefo, to her as
a':uvernentioned, *ere then stieee‘sitely %,...un to hey,
nrd .he answered the queationg put t.. her [everting
ti.ern as follows:
Is that your hand-writinz ?—Yes.
1,..0k at the next side and say if it be par hand-
tr:•it'elt ?•-•••Yr%.
Nrd the next ?—Ye:.
F'.% en t) the end
Ard the address 'r—yei.
Ti.e name ?-1.e%.
The date
Ara the whole of the letter ?—Ye..
Mr. %% H.t.t.tml. was about to put furlier questions,
wl.4a

AreonNet-GENERAL ailietl If the question was
to and• of the contents of thes letters, en.l
I,o:nir answered in the affirmative, he appealed to the
11 whether the course which the Learned lieetle-
rl in was about t' pursue, teat a rorr.•i•t

The Lon D ensxrettost observed, that one of the
first principles of Law was, that if the contents of the
letter were proved, the contents wrie r% id. 1311'
of lhrw-
selvee. And as the letter in this instance h.nl been
proved, there mild be no occa•ion for makiii:r it•
co.:tessts farther subject of ey(A. kk ll ation.
Sir. llama ms craved the indulgenre of the House
to permit him to explain, with respect ts, tin. strange
objection. If hr understood the matter of rie lit, there
itever was a more important question, as it afferteil
the irtereets of justii e throughout the whole asintrv,
brio,. their Lordships or any other tribunal in
Vie kings! . And h•ovever he might he in-
clined to submit to the authority of the Leatned
Loch on the Woolsack, he should feel ashamed
of himself, if he did not, on the present oc•
ca•iuts, fearlessly and openly state what he consci-
eftonsly thought on the subject. It was the (-osmim
I.:active to adduce written authority, if lily there ow-,
•r in objection or. a point of prartice ; but, as hi.
L-urned Friend had not quoted any authority in the
t...91.9ce of his stati !mint, be must conclude, that there
was none to quote. lie lutist, therefore, remind their
L riships of what was the role recognized in all Courts
of law on this point. And he could fearlessly state,
tl.at on no mitt ahalrter were written 'locum, nts ad-
sn!tred as evidence. except on the party interested
brio; able able to .hew that such documents contained
a eattradirtion of what the winless in another manner
ata•eil. No letter could be taken as evide nor what
was said to any person in any one place, except in
arison and toutradh'tion of what was said in
arrt.her place, or to another person. He could
sate plainly to their Lordships what was the
law on this point, seek as he hail himself
pri:tissl, known and suffered it. How r ealil the
erctiadiction be made ant unless by shelving that the
witness denied what she had written, The witness
matt. in fact, nut only be proved to have written the
letter, but to have denied what she or he had so writ-
ten. Of the importance of this point he would be ex-
cnsetl in saying a 4 hild might judge ; and it was as
fresh in his recollection as though it had happened only
the other day, that a question of this kind a rose before a
Jake, who be might say, without fear of of ending,
Ma, exceeded by none in the knowledge of the Law
of England. lie remembered pettedly that lie hail a
wit: es• called against I • to prove a certain fart, in
contradiction ill abide fart, hr pos•esseil a letter,
written toy the said witness. The examivation
sod eross-examination was allowed to pass without
q testioning this witness as to the contents of the letter,
and when after this he produced the letter as idence
against the witness. Mr. SCARILE*I r objected, saying
with a taunt which he acutely telt, that lie had allowed
the only time that hr could have made the instrument
evileure, and must therefore suffer for the art of folly
which he had so imprudently and illegally row:titled.
He did suffer in consequence, for Mr. Baron Wood
ruled against him. He concludes', by declaring,
that by the help of what little share of l'OllllllU3 sense
Le had, "so help we, God, I cannot twe the ground for
the objection argued in the present. ease."
Mr. Baiscattau followed on the same side. Ile
curiured their Lorilsbips to reflect, that the rule
whirls was now about to be made was one which would
cat only affect the whole proceeding in this matter
it the High Court of parliament, but would extend
Von it down the moat humble tribunal in the
country. The law of evidence on this point Was
most clear and unequivocal, and explaining in favour
of the argument of his Learned Friend nil,. had gone
before him. And if the rifle. WAS not exactly as it was,
it would happtet that a man might have the whistle
of the letters that he ever wrote in his
brought against him in a suit. If their Lordships
icided for this rule they would only place au aildi-
t;snal sharkle oa them, and send them forth tied round
C!eir necks, to sink them in every Court of Justice in
the kingdom. Their Midis.% would 'then he the pro-
perty of their Lordships, their reason would remain
unconvinced

'the Avroastev-fimitAt. admitted the law of evi-
dence to he as stated by his two Learned Friends on
the other side; hot could not see how it affected the
present ease otherwise than he had represented. lie
contended that it was nut proper to go into parole evi-
dence upon this letter, which they could be allowed
in produce as evidence at any period of the pro-
ceedings.
After a few remarks from Lord Besaisce, which,
we regret we could not hear, the opinions of the
Learned Judges were taken, and Counsel being called
in,
The Loan C,IANCCLLOR read the opinions to tl►ern
is follows,
That with respect to the first point, their Lord-
ships thought that the letter should be produced, nod
speak for itself, and they moreover had to Worm the
Unease, that this law was as old as the common law of
england.

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