had made the difficulty of executing the warrant greater, and which caused the necessity of employing, for that purpose, a force of a different description from that which would otherwise have been sufficient. Those who had to advise the Serjeant on the subject, it appeared, did not know the effect of the warrant! How then was it possible to exculpate them when they had not before considered what was the law upon this point, notwithstanding the ample opportunities afforded them? Were they not bound to suppose, under all the circumstances, that it was possible the person to be apprehended might be found only in his house, from which he could not be taken without an act of force? an act which did at last become necessary, and which, though not greater than the occasion then required, was greater than would have been required, if proper steps had been previously taken.-Persons combining all the characters to which he had adverted ought surely to have known the effect of the warrant. But their ignorance of that effect had, besides other unfortunate consequences, occasioned a doubt of the validity of the warrant. These doubts could not but have generally existed, when it was observed that persons high in the law, and in other departments, did not know how it was to be executed. As to the effect of the warrant, he himself had no doubt whatever. It was not an afterthought. This was a warrant in execution, not in mean process (a term inap. plicable to a parliamentary warrant), issued for an offence which that House declared to have been committed. They were not to go to courts of law for their information. They stood on the law of parliament, which was part of the law of the land, and founded on reason. They were entitled to every assistance that might be requisite to that of sheriffs, magistrates, police officers, not only in Middlesex, but in Surrey, nay to the whole posse comitatus of the whole kingdom, to enforce obedience to a warrant of apprehension, for an act which the House of Commons had pronounced to be a crime. He blamed those whose official duty bound them to protect the public peace, for not being sufficiently informed upon the steps which might become necessary in consequence of a decision which they themselves, as members of parliament, intended to induce the House to adopt. Instead of any Buch vigilance, the House had on its minutes, an account, from which it appeared,

that down to twenty-four hours before the warrant was executed, they did not know whether they were entitled to break open the door! He asked, then, what confidence was to be placed in their industry, their judgment, their knowledge, or their determination? It was for the purpose of making these observations on the conduct of ministers in this transaction, that he rose. He had no personal animosity against any of the gentlemen on the other side, and he trusted there was no part of his conduct which indicated any such feeling. With several of them he had lived for a long time on terms of friendship. But in the discharge of a public duty, these things were to be forgotten. He was bound to declare that he had no doubt of the effect of the warrant, and that the delay in the execution was imputable to the ignorance of the individuals, and not to the defect of the power. He was bound to say, that the privileges of the House were as undisputed as if the warrant had been executed in the manner prescribed by a just view of these privileges, and trusted the ignorance of those who had taken upon themselves to promote a judgment of imprisonment would only affect themselves, and not the rights of the House, which had existed, for the purpose of enabling the House to maintain its station in the constitution, and to protect the liberty of the subject, of which that House was the guardian.

Sir John Anstruther next rose to state, what he conceived to be the duty of the members of that House, merely as such, without looking either to the one side or to the other. He never had any doubt as to the privilege of the House, and the mode in which the warrant ought to have been executed; and he could not but blame the ministers, who had not before-hand made up their minds on that subject. But was he to give up the go vernment of the country altogether be cause it happened to be in the hands of incapable or bad ministers? Those who had marked his conduct through life could not, he thought, imagine that he would, for a moment, entertain the idea of betraying the government in a period of such difficulty, whatever might be his opinion of those by whom it was conducted. Whether the administrators were fit for their duties or not, they still formed the government, and must be supported. Whatever therefore might be his opinion of the ministers, he could not

hesitate about the part he ought to take when the question came to be, whether the country was to have a government or not. Whenever matters came to that pass, it was the highest privilege of a member of parliament to support the government. The constitution was not to be sacrificed for the sake of getting the ministers into a difficulty with a view to turn them out of office. Even if they had an hereditary title to their seats in the cabinet, he would support them in such a crisis, rather than suffer the constitution to be subverted. He had never disguised his opinion, that his Majesty had been advised to place the government in the hands of men unfit to conduct it in times of difficulty and danger. For the ministers, individually, he had a great respect. They had competent talents to a certain extent; but, as a body, they were not the men who ought to have the administration of the government in these times. But though they were not the best qualified for the discharge of these duties, he could not agree to give up the constitution either to the crown or to a mob. As to the letter, under the circumstances in which it had been written, and considering the motives which dictated it, he thought the best way of dealing with it would be to pass it over in silent contempt.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer then rose. After the severe observations which had been made on the conduct of the ministers, he trusted the House would think that he was called upon and bound to advert to this most unjust attack which had been made upon them-an attack not only unjust but most impolitic, even in the view which even the gentlemen themselves entertained of the proceedings which had taken place within the last four days. That they should so far shut their eyes to what had passed as to ascribe the unfortunate effects which had resulted from the delay in the execution of the warrant, to the conduct of ministers, was he maintained as impolitic, upon their own views, as it was unjust to the real merits of the case. They laid to the charge of ministers the hesitation which had been evinced in acting upon a warrant, the execution of which depended not on them, but rested upon the discretion of the proper officer, whose duty it was to have executed it at his peri!! What would have been the opinion of these gentlemen, if, at a time when one of the

sheriffs was proclaiming that the interference of the military was unconstitutional, the ministers had taken the warrant out of the hands of the proper officer, who hesitated, and executed it themselves? If they had done this, and blood had been shed and murder had ensued, before there was any proof that the proper officers had been unable to execute the warrant, and consequently before there was any evidence of the necessity of their interference--what then would have been the. opinion of the gentlemen on the other side -what would have been the just judgment of that House upon such conduct? But, whatever they might say about the imbecility of ministers in the execution of a plain duty, he was conscious that the imputation was not justly cast upon him. He was sensible that no man was fit for the office he had the honour to fill, or any public situation who, seeing the line of his duty clear could be deterred from its execution by any personal consideration. He had at first taken the line which he thought his duty prescribed. He had seen that that had already happened, which the gentlemen opposite only saw approaching. He had seen in the former letter every thing which appeared in that now under consideration he had seen that the object of the writer was to revile the House of Commons, and to bring it, if possible, into universal contempt. He did not blame the hon. gent. (Mr. Curwen) who had thought his proceeding on the former occasion, in the construction he put upon the hon. bart.'s letter, uncandid. He trusted, however, he would now confess, that the event had proved that his former judgment was not uncandid-and he had at last the satisfaction to find that he and the hon. gent. agreed on this point, at least, in principle. trusted, that it would always be the unaltered principle of the government of this country to leave the law to its course, taking care, however, that the public security should not be endangered (hear! hear.) Gentlemen cheered at the expressions" public security." Did any one say, considering the degree of liberty enjoyed by the subjects in this country, that by any preparations that could have been made, disturbances of this kind could at all times be entirely prevented? It was utterly impossible that individual assassination and tumults of this description could be altogether prevented. The utmost that could be done was to be pre

He

of the unfortunate events which had so lately taken place. The sudden change in the hon. gent.'s opinion was rather matter of surprise to him; but he was much more surprised at that, which had taken place in those of the right hon. gent. opposite to him. From the warmth with which the right hon. gent. who had just sat down, and his colleague who sat by him, had expressed themselves on the former occasion, the House might very naturally have been led to suppose that they had done their duty; but he thought quite otherwise, and with the leave of the House he would endeavour to shew that they had most grossly failed in doing their duty. The right hon. gent. had just told the House, that he foresaw all that conduct of sir F. Burdett which had since taken place, from the very first introduction of this business before the House; and yet when the Speaker's warrant came to be issued, he was not, nor were any of his colleagues, prepared with the proper means of carrying it into execution.-Really, he thought, that from the beginning the right hon. gent. ought to have seen reason to apprehend that the execution of the warrant would have been resisted. Sir F. Burdett's declared opinion of the character of the warrant was calculated to excite that apprehension, and yet it appeared that the right hon. gent. was quite unprepared for the event. This formed a serious ground of complaint against him; but there was another and a still stronger ground of complaint.-It would be recollected, that when the hon. baronet actually resisted the warrant, the case was referred to the consideration of the right hon. gent., and his answer was, that he knew not what advice to give, as there was no precedent whatever in which this warrant had been resisted. Now, he put it to the right hon. gent. personally, professionally and officially, whether upon abandoning the law to pursue politics, it did not become his duty to study parliamentary history with somewhat more attention. In point of fact, there was a precedent of the Speaker's warrant having been resisted long before that issued against șir F. Burdett, whose manner of acting he was by no means disposed to justify, and that resistance was accompanied by contempt. But in this precedent how had the House proceeded? why, they voted that the party so resisting was sick. Such was the mode by which the House averted any conflict upon that occasion. But yet, as

to the privileges of the House, he was as ready as any to maintain them, and that the warrant of the Speaker was complete and of all others ought to be omnipotent -that if good for any thing it was good for every thing, and that it authorized the breaking open of doors if necessary in order to enforce its execution. If it were not invested with that authority, what, he, would ask, was to become of the most important functions of that House? How were witnesses to be brought to the bar, as in the recent investigation respecting the duke of York-how was the House to come at various points of information material to the performance of its first duties

in a word, if the Speaker's warrant were not omnipotent, what was to become of the inquisitorial character of that House? It was impossible that the people could be so insensible to their own best interestscould be so besotted as to entertain a wish of wrenching from the House a power so essential to all the good purposes of its institution. Let it be recollected, that although the House of Commons had erred from its duty in many instances, it ought not to be deprived of those privileges which were indispensible to its utility and power, whenever it should become in its constitution and conduct more conformable to the opinion and the interest of the people. That it must become so conformable he could entertain little doubt. Indeed, he would venture to say, that the cause of reform was making rapid progress—that within the last month many, very many converts had been made to that cause. Let it then be asked, in what state the House would be placed in the event of a reform, if stripped of the power under discussion-if the Speaker's warrant were not omnipotent? The crown was known to have a considerable influence in that House and elsewhere; and what must the people expect to be the inclination of that influence in the event of reform. Must they not calculate upon its hostility, and what power could a reformed House of Commons have of counteracting that hostility if its warrant were not effective? Upon this ground therefore most particu larly, he thought the Speaker's rant ought to be omnipotent.-But although he maintained the power of this warrant, it did not follow that he would vindicate an improper application of that power, as in the instance of sir Francis Burdett. At the same time, as it was deemed proper to issue the warrant

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