and many Members of that House; this Pamphlet was, he said, scandalous and indecent, and such as he thought ought not to pass unnoticed. He considered the villifying and misrepresenting the conduct of judges and magistrates entrusted with the administration of justice and the laws of the country, to be a crime of a very heinous nature, and most destructive in its consequences, because it tended to lower them in the opinion of those who ought to feel a proper reverence and respect for their high and important stations; and that when it was stated to the ignorant or the wicked, that their judges and magistrates were ignorant and corrupt, it tended to lessen their respect for and obedience to the laws themselves, by teaching them to think ill of those who administered them." On the next day Mr. Burke called the attention of the House of Commons to this matter, in a Speech to the following effect:

"Mr Speaker,

"THE license of the present times makes "it very difficult for us to talk upon certain

66

subjects in which Parliamentary order is in"volved. It is difficult to speak of them with "regularity, or to be silent with dignity and "wisdom: All our proceedings have been con"stantly published, according to the discretion

" and

" and ability of individuals out of doors, with

30

66

impunity, almost ever since I came into Par"liament. By usage, the people have obtained "something like a prescriptive right to this "abuse. I do not justify it; but the abuse is now grown so inveterate, that to punish it "without previous notice would have an appearance of hardship, if not injustice. The publications I allude to are frequently erro"neous as well as irregular, but they are not always so; what they give as the reports and "resolutions of this House, have sometimes "been given correctly. And it has not been uncommon to attack the proceedings of the "House itself under colour of attacking these irregular publications. Notwithstanding how"ever this colourable plea, this House has, in "some instances, proceeded to punish the per66 sons who have thus insulted it. You will here "too remark, Sir, that when a complaint is "made of a piratical edition of a work, the "authenticity of the original work is admitted, "and whoever attacks the matter of the work "itself in these unauthorized publications, does "not attack it less than if he had attacked it in "an edition authorized by the writer. Pum❝ I understand, Sir, that in a place which "I greatly respect, and by a person for whom "I have likewise a great veneration, a pam

66 phlet,

phlet published by a Mr. Debrett, has been very heavily censured. That pamphlet, I hear, "(for I have not read it) purports to be a Report "made by one of your Committees to this "House. It has been censured (as I am told) "by the person and in the place I have men"tioned, in very harsh and very unqualified "terms. It has been there said (and so far very truly) that at all times, and particularly at "this time, it is necessary for the preservation "of order and the execution of the law, that "the characters and reputation of the Judges "of the Courts in Westminster Hall should be kept in the highest degree of respect and reverence; and that in this pamphlet, described "by the name of a libel, the characters and con"duct of those Judges upon a late occasion "have been aspersed, as arising from ignorance "or corruption.

"Sir, combining all the circumstances, I "think it impossible not to suppose that this Speech does not reflect upon a Report which, by an order of the Committee on which I "served, I had the honour of presenting to this "House. For any thing improper in that

Report I am responsible, as well as the Mem"bers of the Committee, to this House, and to "this House only. The matters contained in "it, and the observations upon them are subVol. XV. "mitted

b

"mitted to the wisdom of the House, that you "may act upon both in the time and manner "that to your judgment may seem most ex"pedient; or that you may not act upon them "at all, if you should think that most expedient "for the publick good. Your Committee has obeyed your orders; it has done its duty in "making that Report.

66

"I am of opinion with the eminent person "by whom that Report is censured, that it is necessary at this time very particularly that "the authority of Judges should be preserved "and supported. This however does not de"pend so much upon us as upon themselves. "It is necessary to preserve the dignity and respect of all the Constitutional authorities. "This, too, depends in part upon ourselves. "It is necessary to preserve the respect due to "the House of Lords; it is full as necessary to

preserve the respect due to the House of "Commons; upon which (whatever may be "thought of us by some persons) the weight "and force of all other authorities within this "kingdom essentially depend. If the power of "the House of Commons be degraded or ener "vated, no other can stand. We must be true "to ourselves. We ought to animadvert upon

any of our Members who abuse the trust we place in them; we must support those who, " without

" without regard to consequences, perform their

"duty.

"With regard to the matter which I am "now submitting to your consideration, I must 66 say for your Committee of Managers and for "myself, that the Report was deliberately made, " and does not, as I conceive, contain any very "material errour, nor any undue or indecent "reflection upon any person or persons what66 ever. It does not accuse the Judges of ignorance or corruption. Whatever it says, it "does not say calumniously. That kind of "language belongs to persons whose eloquence " entitles them to a free use of epithets. The Report states, that the Judges had given their "opinions secretly, contrary to the almost un"interrupted tenor of Parliamentary usage on "such occasions. It states, that the mode of

giving the opinions was unprecedented and "contrary to the privileges of the House of "Commons. It states, that the Committee did "not know upon what rules and principles "the Judges had decided upon those cases, as "they neither heard their opinions delivered, "nor have found them entered upon the Jour"nals of the House of Lords. It is very true, "that we were and are extremely dissatisfied "with those opinions, and the consequent deter"minations of the Lords; and we do not think

"such