Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1818-02-05


pertaining 40 It's Office anti IT'S title.
J Sir, said MIR. NJ. why tins indignation against
the common law 7 Orr f0refathers defended
1T, in the old world, against Nsrman invasion,
Ecclesiastical fraud, and royal encrouchuiemt
I9rhey brought il hitler; they planted it; and
we iaNo iioarished beneath its shelter.
| The common idwl Had the tongue of Hen
ry, would pOurtray 10 you lis excellence
He who implOred the convention of Virginia
Ia reject this constitution because II did not
expressly adopt this law in all its maNims the
most eloquent champion that American liberty
ever drew TO her support, regarded this con-
stitution, which he had not tired, with suspi-
| cion, and the law under which lie had lived
with confidence and affection.
The doctrine which advance, i'm relation to
this constitutional question, is cOngenial With
|, the purest American feeling. The common
| law is hat of the land which gave me bnth.
| Ii is the law of every state OF this widely ex-
| tended union. On its broad aud solid basis
| rest the free constitutions of these states, as
| well as that noble structure which is commit.
| Ted 10 cur care.
| SIR. this law was not that Of my remote pro (.
| geniors. Erins green turf, aud the brown
| heath OF Caledonia, although my eye never
| beheld them, are, | acknowledge, dear TO mv
| heart. This feeling Is not ines piiCabie. Who
| II so base as TO hear AN inSinuatiOn against his
! father name and not feel the lille blood mount
| to his cheek: Sir, hi. feeling binds us, not
| only 10 our ancestors, but TO the land which
| gave them birth ; it flows from tie same foun-
I
| us TO our own natal soil. Ii is not at war with
| the impulse of general benev oience, or callous
I TO the merits OF other nations. L can turn my
| eye across that channel along which my fancy
| has Just conducted me, aud eNclaim in the
| language OF the sweetest bard of ireland
Gay. sprighty land of social mirth and ease
Pleased With III, SELF whom all the world can please
How altered is this scene Sir, the tear of
pity must start from every eye at the sutferings
OF Il Misguided, much oppressed, but gallant
nation.
Do we look for the monuments of orr own
history no farther back than the glorious era
| OF 16s Are we ashamed of the achievements
oil our British ancestors, that we have begun
| to contemn their laws? Who can speak or
think OF freedom without recollecting the
names OF Locke, OF Hampden, and OF sydney
Sir, beg pardon for this DEPRESSION. 1t was
forced from me by the cloud which thought
saw gathering os the brow OF the House when
L referred to tue common law as the expositor
| OF the American constitution.
| The ColonistS ofGreatB Britain brought their
| laws with them to America. Their new lot
was beset with difficulties and dangers. The
| savage lurked in his covert. The forest was
| 70 be opened TO the light of cultivation. lit
was not time, sir, to SIT down in order TO deli
berate and TO change their laws. Had they
possessed the leisure, they had not the incina-
ton, TO lnnovate upon the established customs
ana nSages OF their ioretathers. Those emf
grants who united with them, from other conn
| tries, took the laws as they tOund them and
~ ~ iHClHSu, tuty nau not the power TO
change them.
Those laws, and the habits of thinking. from
which they sprung, and Oh which the laws
themselves reacted, were Incorporated with
every political institution which they founded.
he Parliament of England, and the courts of
estmlnster, were the models of their le~is.
iatlve assemblies, and of their judicial tribunals
Their constitution, their powers, their forms
OF proceeding, and their rules of decision
were sometimes prescribed by their laws. but
| generally left to implication, from the great
fountain of practical wisdom-the common law
of England.
appeal TO my colleagues, ifths constitution
had been formed cotempOraneously with that
of Virginia, would not the same power to
punish contempts attach to the House of Rem
| resentatives aud the Senate of the United
States, as unquestlonably belongs to the cor
responding branches of the General Assembly
the House OF Delegates aud Senate of Nir~l.
ma! From the form of the Speakers chair to
! the power OF eNpelllng member, the charac-
ter and authority OF the House of Delegates is
derived, without any express Constitutional
provision, from the House of Commons the
arcbetype OF the popular branch of every state
legislature, as ii is of this House.
1he force of The argument, which this ana.
logy furnishes, is not impaired by the conside-
ration, that the federal constitution is of more
recent structure Its the act of the peopie of the
u. States, Is itself proc!aims and, referring ex-
presSly 10 the common law, in one of its arti-
cles, unnteliigibie throughout, except BY the
maNims in the present enquiry. II this power
Is essential To the House OF Commons, so il
mast be presumed that the people OF these
states rcgardedit TO be, and so must we consid-
er IL III relation TO thetwo Houses of this Lee
gislature.
1t has been urged, that many eXtravagant
doctrines would arise from this source of con-
structiye authority. Where, il is asked, shall
this House stop i'll its use? The revolution of
1875 answers this question. 1t necessarily lon
ped oil the regal aud arstOcratca branches of
this law. This limitation of the common law
relieves the rule OF constructions for which [
contend, from all that could alarm our fears
Ii is founded, am inclined TO believe in judi-
cial decisions, throughout the United States
by the unanimous Judgment of the General
Court, the highest criminal tribunal of Virgil
MIA, the principle has been extended so far, IS
to authorize a defendant, indicted fora libel at
common law, to give the truth in evidence.
This House derives, therefore, from the com.
mon law, no privileges which it ought not TO
possess.
One of my colleagues has cOntended that all
the privileges of this House are expressly emit
merated by the 9th section of the LIST article of
the constitution, and restricted to exemption
from arrest, in certain specified casCn and
from responsibility elsewhere for ANY speech
or debate III the House. And hence, with
great apparent pausibility, he infers, that the
House possesses no other privilege, and has
authority to punish no bother cOutemptS except
such as are committed in violation Of these.
In answer to this argument, il has already
been cOntended by the honorable member who
last addressed the House that this clause of
the constitution may be justly regarded a. the
result of that extreme canton which induced
the convention TO insert in it what might otii-
erwiSe have been inferred caution which is
dscernable in other parts of this instrument
TO the illustration which lie has furnished
many others may be added as, for example,
the very first article of tie amendments...
The greater part ofthese are designed to serve
the purpose OF bill Of rights, for which so
many opponents of the constitution had most
zealOusy comtended. 1t cannot be presumed
that, If this amendment had not been made