The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-06-28 00:00:00

not the occasion for entering upon the subject;
% believer the occasion comes, I shall be preps.
to meet it, willing and anxious to be tried 1;':
House, the country, and posterity, in the i
which the Noble Lord Las proposed ;
;‘,14
tried on a review of the last ei:zlit rears f;
our opinion% arts, and treasures in t e course of thit
period, as contrasted with the counsels of the N 01,6
Lord opposite, whose counsels would have led tai
ruin of the country, to the prostration of her struck
and dignity, and independence, and to the
_hut**,
tion of evils from which there could be uo hopeo(4.
lirerauce. Upon this ground I say
again,
that f as 4
willing to be tried by Parliament, ate comitry, •
posterity.—(Hear ! from the 31inisterial Rem hes 4„,
before I go into the subject of this night's dehakr
have no difficulty in stating the whole of my en*,
as connected with these proceedings. I have as
culty in saying, that without reference to paniesii,
swede alluded to by the Noble Lord in contra:heti%
to the rule of Parliament, I always did f 1.1 that apss;
cerdiug against her Majesty the Queen must he atm"
public evil. I always thought, that rhatever Wive
duct might have been, it Mutt neceisarilv be atom
with great public inconvenience. To avoid en.t iss;
venienve, if possible, without incurring a I:reatet
was therefore an object which appeared to me stall tim
desirable, and the cowl urt adopted with that riew is call
as I nut only avow without hesitation, hut defend pith
confidence. With respect to the theasurel take, tope,.
vent the return of the Queen, I believe they are ap.
proved by nine-tenths of the people; but from then*.
talent that her Majesty's resolution was taken to mum,
ask, was there any alternative between receiring h
with all the homage of a Queen, and adopting the
course we did, which was to state, that we had refined
her that homage because we had accusations to bring
against her? But the Noble Lord has said that his
Majesty's Ministers mord, with all the rapidity ichith
the forms of the House would admit, the refi ern
the subject to a Secret Committee. It is true 'ant
such a 'notion was made, hat it is also true that ire
were perfectly really to attempt any course short of
retracting the charges by which the inquiry could be
prevented. There was nothing inconsistent in all
this. As to the irregular allusion made by the Noide
Lord to expres • s said to have been used in another
place, he took them probably from arc .ants •
they were misrepresented, and your Lordshi
observe, among the consequences of this "
from order, that it has led to remarks
ressions, the reputed author of which
present to correct. But the Noble Lord
treated the Resolution all along as if
Resolution of his Majesty's 31inisters. If'
it received the support of Ministers, his
perfectly true ; but if he means that they
thing of it, even a moment before it was pro
impression was perfectly untrue. Without
any importance to particular nerds, I deny
pie of the Noble Lord upon this part of tile
and rontend, that, even if the Queen is guilty,
*notion may be fairly lamented, as dercie•
dignity of the Crown, and injurious to the
of the country. But it does nut follow
that there may not be another course more ,
to that dignity, and more injurious to those
The withdrawing of the charge would be '
but this does not prove the that position
There is no view of this question which does
considerable difficulties, bia I trust the 1"
Ministers the justice to believe that they
ivuid the prosecution, if possible, though
miasent to retract the charges. The Noble
add, that the House ought to be on its guard
Its character as a great judicial holly. I hope
so; I doubt not but it will do so, for it must
ter of satisfaction to us all twreflect, that if d
the whole world a tribunal unsullied by a slash
of misconduct, it is that of the English lMsmt
I maintain that the circumstances which 13-'
so far from constituting an objection to
course, have taken away
.the only objection
be supposed to exist against it. The Noble
said, that the other House of Parliament may
impeachment, and has questioned the inu
given by my Noble and Learned Friend Of
sack, to the statute of Edward the Third.
terpretation ortbat statute does not depend,
nion of my Noble and Learned Friend alone,
ported by every considerable legal authority
been consulted, and the Act has been referred f
the first authorities in the kingilotn. The Act p
it high treason in a subject to commit adnitery
Queen Consort or her eldest daughter ; bat it
mention one word about the woman, though
suppos 4 to contemplate her consent. I thir
be a strong interpretation of the Act, if it
one, to say, that as it was high treason in
it must be by implication in the woman consents**
there can be no accessories in treason ; but hal"
practice of centuries to direct us, we have a
some that the interpretation of the Art is
public awl to the illustrious persons, la the
'signer, however, who owes no all
li no crime, so that the construction
offence becomes cognisable under the tis l
ease ; for how can it be said that she is
treason, wheu lie is not? But the Noble,
that though it may not be high treason,
great offence amounting to a high crime
meatioer. There again I am at issue with
Lord. Before it can be 'hewn to be high
misdemeanor, it must be shewn to be a
minution law of the country. Bin I vas
mime at common law, it is merely a civil ,
soeb is liable to compensation in damages.
that a public olheer, guilty of a breech of da,,
execution of his Aire, is punishable by Pail: Mr
misdemeanor, but then his °Sere, is a Rai
common law also, and nothing shall ever in
create a crime for the occasion, which is not
by the laws of the country. We now come A
wliat is the only course of proceeding possib!.
adopt. The only one we can resort to is
one ; it may he for a divorce, it may be for
and penalties, but whatever it is, It must
$ legislative proceeding. I dad by referees
Journals, that it is competent to either Hesse f
nate the measure. Then minis the question
House ought to eonsioeiwie in the present et
if the proceeding is to be of a jndidal nature, , RP"
it should originate here than in the Houma( Cush
and for this plain reason, that you are in tbll howl
examining witnesses apes oath. The adjwraad
the other House last night was expressly tr
and what my Noble Priced stated on that
thiso if 174 liegwirouislatiirprereseuseasareemenallise•ithe eesrntse
How, -
moos. We weir tome to this kgishelve measore.
previous inquiry is necessary before we ran ammo'
what it should be, or whether it shoidd take paten
and I maintain, that an inqairy bra=
is less caltulated to prejudice the

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ice .unu in whid of
sr Lordships id Ili
of this departs. in
-marks upon ea fa
which tan's' h or
Lord (Grey) le
Ls if it was de rya
Di
If he assanstbil
his i A
at the7krito "
was ns
iithout a th
I deny the w
t of tios qui', lo
is guilty, the pe th
derogato=
D the best H
How fres theei; m
lief• Pr
re tedt= NI ites
I be far lowl.llol V
ion to be abed a
li does not mule
the House will oill
hey are willing/it it
ough they tank at
I Noble Cord MI w
is guard to qini if
I hope it Mlle si
it oust be as* st
that if there MB
y a singlriadou at
di [louse of la* hr
ich have oct. 1111
11 to the origiad to
jection that essii ill
Noble girl has of
nt may pnwesd by Q
he i a terp retails H
riend on the o*
bird. But die is ti
lepead so the eri• le
I alone, it is op X
inthority that k• a
referred to wed si
be Act preassign
at
adnitery with Ws ti
!r ; bat it choose
thuegh it west bi si
I think it wadi ii
if it was a mewl it
ion in the oils • si
se consendsi, U tl
i ; bat basis( it
et
have a right V*
tx
di
et
yile'letawsitht.sbribessieeleell'a qweldWilirt: Il
'et is leak salh a r
1 is guilty of ill
able Lori has w
nen, it may be a
el
crime asi
se with the t:
se high crime sW L
Se a cruse by du ct
siis adultery le PI
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