confirmed what I had said, he should then | House having resolved itself into a Comhave sent for D'Eon and have proceeded mittee of the whole House to consider of in the enquiry. This will be a standing the State of the Nation, lesson and example; an example what magistrates are to do in future. There may be hereafter, whatever there is now, real ground for suspicion of some conspiracy, the neglect of which may be attended with fatal consequences, and all men will be deterred from attempting to make the necessary discoveries. [Withdrew. eyes Sir George Osborne then observed on the whole, that the manner in which the doctor got his evidence was futile in the highest degree, amounting only to coffeehouse discourses, with men of no account or possibility of knowing the things alledged; that it had appeared so not only to lord Halifax, but also to many gentlemen in opposition, to whom the doctor's secret had been entrusted, and who every one gave the same opinion; that the doctor appeared to him the last miserable engine of a despairing faction. He trusted lord Halifax was acquitted in the of the whole House, from obstructing, in any degree, public justice, as indeed he had been from many other equally malicious charges on him; in particular, that of general warrants, in which it appeared to be against his own opinion; but over-ruled by the opinions of the law officers, and the practice of former secretaries, he had acted in them from his hand, not his heart. He therefore moved, "That it appears to this House that the information given by Dr. Musgrave, in the year 1765, to the earl of Halifax, at that time one of his Majesty's principal secretaries of state, and now laid by Dr. Musgrave before this House, was in the highest degree frivolous and unworthy of credit, and such as could not afford any reasonable foundation for secuting the enquiry demanded by the said Dr. Musgrave." pro Mr. Core seconded the motion, but observed, that it was an infamous aspersion that Dr. Musgrave was the tool of a faction, he not being in any shape employed by any gentleman in opposition, but acting entirely from himself. The motion was then agreed to. Mr. Dowdeswell begun, by observing, that it was always the duty of parliament to take into consideration any grievances or discontents of the people. That the present unhappy situation of affairs loudly called for the exercise of that duty; that it could not be denied but that there were such discontents in all parts of his Majesty's dominions, Britain, Ireland, the East and West Indies, North America, and even the little island of Jersey: That the causes of the discontents were many and grievous, each of which demanded a long enquiry; but that, for the present, he ticularly concerned Great Britain, namely, should only enter into that which more parthe determination on the Middlesex election. To give, therefore, some hopes to the people that they should find some reof the House of Commons so loudly called dress, which the exorbitant assumed power for; and to set that power of the House it is the opinion of this Committee, that on legal grounds: he should move, "That this House, in the exercise of its Judica ture in Matters of Election, is bound to judge according to the Law of the Land, and the known and established Law and Custom of Parliament, which is part thereof."* The view with which this motion "This was understood to be the leading to lead to a condemnation of the principles of proposition to a string of resolutions that were the determination in the Middlesex election. The manner of putting this beginning was full of parliamentary skill; the question being conducted by an experienced and able member, Mr. Dowdeswell. If the truth of the proposition was denied, a monstrous and alarming power would be assumed in parliament. If it the determination of the House would follow, was admitted, other propositions reflecting on connected with this, and perhaps equally hard to be evaded. If got rid of for the present by a previous question, it might return again to torment them daily. "They, therefore, after admitting the truth, denied the necessity of coming to such a resolution, which standing alone might suppose that the House reflected on its own acts: and then moved an amendment, which should at once put an end to all hopes of their ever Debate in the Commons on a Motion, changing their ground, or giving way to the "That in Matters of Elections this House words should be added to the motion,' And that opposition; which was, that the following "is bound to judge according to the Lawthe judgment of this House in the case of John "of the Land, &c.*] January 25. The * From the Gentleman's Magazine. [VOL. XVI.] Wilkes was agreeable to the law of the land, and fully authorized by the practice of parlia'ment.' As this amendment was totally subyer[9] was made, appeared, by his immediately adding, "If this House has acted by the law of the land, how is Mr. Luttrell member for Middlesex? If by custom and practice of parliament, where is that custom and practice to be found." Several quotations were then made from "Lex Parliamentaria," a book which contains many cases of members expelled for various causes, and the great question was coming on, when a member complained, that last year several people had gone down to Bedford to make free-men, to out-vote, and take away the birth-right of real free-men. Upon this, Mr. Grenville, who suspected a design to divert the attention of the House, observed, that they were not then trying the right of the corporation of Bedford; and declared that he was for trying the great question then before the House. Mr. Rigby replied, that he was sure nobody desired to avoid the great question, and that he had himself risen to say something with respect to the corporation of Bedford, that Mr. Grenville had said behim. After much debate whether the precedents that had been produced, were or were not applicable to the case in question; Mr. Ongley rose and said: I do not pretend, Sir, to be skilled in precedents, or in the multifarious variety of those positive institutions which are called the law of the land. But I presume, according to the opinion of those who have most successfully studied them, that they are all founded upon reason, and consonant to it, and therefore that nothing which is contrary to reason and common sense can be consonant to law. That the members of this House are to judge of what is law, or at least, of what ought to be law; upon this general principle, appears plainly to me, from the very words of the writ that Dive of the principles upon which the motion was founded, it was accordingly opposed with great vigour, and the debates renewed with fresh warmth, till at length, upon a division, the numbers being 224 to 180, the question with the amendment was carried; and being now passed into a public resolution, and thereby become a full confirmation of the former deci sion on the Middlesex election, it put a final end to the hopes of those who still expected that the former determination upon that subject would have been rescinded." Annual Register. is issued for their election. That writ does not require the freeholders to elect a man versed in the precedents, the practices, and the reasonings of courts of justice, a man that has spent his life in sifting all that has been enacted, explained, re-enacted, and repealed in 20 vast volumes in folio, to see what remains of legal obligation: no, Sir, the writ, which may be presumed to speak the sense of the constitution in this particular, requires no such qualifications; it requires neither from county nor borough, any other than discreet men; and indeed it would be most unhappy for the government of this country, if any other personal qualifications were necessary; for it is certain, that at least four fifths of the members of this House of Commons have no other; and that no other will be possessed by four fifths of every House of Commons that shall hereafter be chosen. I do not deny but that some rights as well of the members of this House as of their constituents, have arisen at different times from acts of parliament, but the far greater part of them have no such source; other, good sense and discretion must rewith respect, however, both to one and the gulate our conduct. pose, that we are bound to an absurdity, whatever may be found in ancient parchments, or traced in obscure history. We must never sup When the people, at whatever time, or for whatever purpose, appointed a few to act as representatives of the whole, their end could not possibly have been answered, if they had not given to the representatives the same power to act for the constituents, as the constituents had to act for themselves. A power of preserving order and decency is essentially necessary to every ag gregate body; and with respect to this assembly, if it had not power over its par ticular members, they would be subject to no controul at all. Where, but in this House, could a coercive power over its members be placed? It could not be placed in the King, or the House of Lords because then the Commons would become dependant upon the other branches of the legislature. It could not be placed in its constituents the people, for they could not possibly meet to deliberate about its execution: all that the people could do in this case, would be to elect a second committee, or House of Commons, to form rules for the first; but that one House of Commons, or committee of the people, should have power over the members of another House of Commons or committee, and not over its own, is sure an absurdity too gross for any man to adopt. The right of the people therefore to judge of the privileges of their representatives, must necessarily devolve upon such representatives themselves, because, the exercise of such right is absolutely necessary, and it cannot possibly be placed any where else. If this be a right idea of the constitution of this House, there is certainly the greatest reason to fear that every attempt to check its power over its own members, will tend to subvert its independency, and bring the representative and the represented once more into that state of slavery, from which they have by various causes been gradually emerging for the last 500 years. The regulations of the House of Commons have, like all other laws, been the children of expediency, formed without precedent, and against precedent laid aside, when the reason of their establishment no longer subsisted. This is the conduct that is indicated by discretion, and entered upon by necessity. And, without consulting journals, I will venture to pronounce, that this has been the constant practice of the House of Commons ever since it had a beginning, and must be its practice as long as it exists, or at least as long as it continues adequate to its original constitutional purposes. Mr. Thomas Townshend: could give it the preference above others: Mr. Onslow: I am sorry, Sir, to see gentlemen affect to treat this question, as if it related only to the privileges of our own members: it affects in a most essential point the right of our electors, the people of England; and whatever may be the origin of the laws, or rules, or precedents of this Sir; in answer to what the hon. House, whether expediency, necessity, gentleman over the way has said concernprescribed principles, or common sense, ing the people of England, I will venture it is certain that they cannot operate upon to affirm, that the people of England, conthose that are not subject to their juris-sidered either as a legislative or a judicadiction. The people of England, Sir, by whose authority we sit here, do not surely hold their rights and privileges under the arbitrary will of this House, by whatever name gentlemen may please to call it. If that were the case, this House, instead of being a check upon the other parts of the legislature, to prevent tyranny, would it self, uncontrouled, be the most dreadful tyrant upon earth. In that case, Sir, I should see nothing in this country that tive body, have no existence but within the walls of this House: so that if any dispute could possibly arise between the people of England and the House of Commons, it is here, and here only, that the dispute could be decided, and the House must become judge as well as party in the cause; I may not, perhaps, call this law, I may not, perhaps, think it worth while to call it reason; but I say it is that which upon all occasions must take place both of law and reason, it is necessity; and when there is but one way, in which a thing can be, it is folly to repine at its inconveniencies. Let any gentleman point me out a power to which the present dispute can be referred, and I will cheerfully concur in the reference: the King and the Lords are out of the question, and to appeal to the people, would imply this absurdity, that they had reserved their power of deliberation, after, (from experience that they could not exercise it themselves) they had delegated it for years to a smaller number. ble antagonist in the necromancer who has conjured all the counties, cities and boroughs of two kingdoms, within the walls of this House, and displaced the members to make room for them. I am not however afraid even of him: I know that "he is of his father the devil, and that the works of his father he will do," but I trust that I shall be able to put both him and his father to flight, and that "their works will follow them:" I will at least resist them; and I know, that when they are resisted, they can never prevail. He says, that we have the same right The name House of Commons, Sir, is to expel a member, as the people of Engmisunderstood; instead therefore of giv- land have to expel the inhabitants of a ing this assembly an ambiguous appella- county, from a share in the legislature, tion, I shall call it the people of Eng-"because the same right which belongs land. The present dispute will then appear to be not between the House of Commons and their electors, but between almost the whole people of England, and a very small portion of them called the freeholders of Middlesex. What has been offered by the hon. gentleman who spoke last, concerning our right to expel, and our obligation to re-admit, has, I confess, the appearance of reasoning; but the moment we consider the gentlemensitting on those benches, as so many counties, cities, and boroughs, voluntarily met together, and forming a regular society for the management of their own concerns, the error of this reasoning becomes manifest. Change the proposition of the House of Commons expelling Mr. Wilkes, to that of the whole people of England expelling a two hundred and fiftieth part of their body, the freeholders of Middlesex, and none of the hon. gentleman's arguments can possibly take place. The same right which belongs to the people at large, must belong to the people here contracted by representation: this right, however, is more than upon the present occasion is claimed. The question is not now, whether a county shall be represented, but whether the most exceptionable man in the kingdom shall represent it. Sir George Yonge : I am very ready, Sir, to join issue with the hon. gentleman, who referred the question before us, to the determination of common honesty and common sense, for I am as positive, that sense and honesty would determine on my side, as he affects to be that they would determine on his. But I have a more formida to the people at large, must belong to the people here contracted by representation;" which is just as much as if he had said, a servant has the same right to commit a robbery as his master, because any right which belongs to the master, may be delegated to the servant. It is the right of the people to exclude a county, that we deny, as we do that of a master to commit a robbery; the right of the representative and servant, therefore, are out of the question. I should be glad to know upon what principle of the constitution, or, indeed, what principle of general society, the minority of the people of England, can pretend a right to disfranchise the majority: there is but one principle that I know of, upon which it can be done; a principle, to which I fear the hon. gentleman and his party, are too much attached, power. The will of the strongest is the tyrant's rule of right, and by no other rule can the many oppress the few: if there had been a stipulated covenant between the county of Middlesex on one part, and the rest of the kingdom on the other, under the penalty of disfranchisement on the part of the county, and the penalty had been incurred by a breach of the covenant, then indeed it might lawfully have been inflicted, and sense and honesty will concur to tell us, that it could not lawfully have been inflicted on any other condition. It is, I know, very true, that the county of Durham once made no part of our legislature, but there is as much difference between not possessing a privilege, and having a privilege that is possessed taken away, as between having no money to lose, and being robbed of money on the road. If, then, the whole people of England, could not expel a county from their common-hall, but in consequence of the breach of some covenant, under which they had voluntarily subjected themselves to such a penalty, surely, as I observed before, there is no shadow of pretence to justify an act, which is eventually the same in their deputies, their attornies, their stewards, or, as a distinguishing gentleman has thought fit to call them, their plenipotentiaries. : We have been told of another principle, by which all law and all reason are supplanted, necessity: there is, indeed, a kind of necessity which is neither consonant to reason, nor subject to law of this kind, as far as we can judge, is the physical necessity that produces pestilence, famine, and earthquakes: but moral necessity, which is what the hon. gentleman means, if he means any thing, is another thing. Moral necessity results from reason, and is the foundation of law: it is that necessity which urges a man to eat when he is hungry, and take physic when he is sick it is founded upon general advantage, and never can subsist without it, as there can be no moral necessity for a man not to eat when he is hungry, or take medicine when he is sick. Moral necessity, therefore, can never urge a community, any more than an individual, to any measure that is not for its advantage upon the whole, and surely it is not for the advantage of any society, that one part of it should be oppressed by another. The first laws and the first government, were the effect of a moral necessity, to prevent the mischiefs of that perpetual hostility, which an opposition of interest could not fail to produce, from the first moment there was what we call property in the world; and except the learned gentleman can prove, that it is better for one part of a society to oppress another, than for all to enjoy common privileges, he can never found the measure for which he is an advocate, upon moral necessity. He says, indeed, that the House must become judge and party in its own cause, there being no other power to which the dispute in question can be referred: if such a power can be found, he has offered to concur in the reference. I agree with him, Sir, that the King and the Lords are out of the question, as moving in the first instance; but I confess I do not see the absurdity of appealing to the people; the hon. gentleman says, that it would imply their having at once reserved their power, and parted with it for a certain time by delegation; but who has told this gentleman, that the act of delegation in the people of England to their representatives, is irrevocable? I say that upon every principle of constitutional right, upon every principle of general society, it is revocable; and I say there is a moral necessity that it should be so. It is as necessary that the people should revoke their delegation, when their representatives betray the rights they were chosen to defend, as that an individual should revoke a warrant of attorney, when his substitute for the receipt of money converts it to his own use and to suppose any society, under a necessity of losing all that is dear in freedom and independence, in consequence of a temporary delegation of its power to substitutes or representatives, is an affront to common sense: the constitution of England involves no such absurdity; by the constitution of England the people have a right to petition the King, to give them a new choice, by dismissing representatives who betray their trust; and by the constitution of England, the King has a right to dismiss them. Let us then hear no more of " the tyrant's plea, necessity:" and when we complain. of evils, let us no more be insulted by a pretence that they are irremediable. Will the people's petitioning the King for a dissolution of the parliament, render them dependent upon the royal authority? Will the King's compliance with such petition, render them so dependent? Just as much as presenting a bill to his Majesty, after it has passed both Houses, just as much as his Majesty's signing a bill so presented. As this House, therefore, neither by any principle of the constitution, or of general society, or of moral necessity, is party and judge under no controul but the caprice of its own will, I shall support the motion, that this House ought to judge of elections by the laws of the land. Mr. Attorney-General De Grey: Sir; instead of following the hon. gentleman near me, over the vast tract of ground he has passed, I shall endeavour to bring him back to the spot from whence he set out, where only our business is to be done. I apprehend that the question upon which this motion turns is simply, Whether this House has a right to expel its members? That they have not such a right formally, some have been bold enough to |