LO

room.

CHOICE OF A SPEAKER.

June 8.

ORD Sydney having resigned the office of secretary of state for the home department, the right honourable William Wyndham Grenville was immediately appointed in his This circumstance having occasioned a vacancy in the chair of the House of Commons, Mr. Henry Addington was proposed for that office by the Marquis of Graham, and Sir Gilbert Elliot by Mr. Welbore Ellis. After Mr. Addington and Sir Gilbert Elliot had addressed the House, Mr. Fox rose and supported the appointment of Sir Gilbert Elliot. Mr. Pitt declared, that he meant to speak with respect of the honourable baronet; but, in the several topics of encomium bestowed upon him, all of which, he believed, were deservedly bestowed, there were circumstances which, from his acquaintance with the honourable baronet, upon private grounds, he did not know. The talents and the character of his honourable friend Mr. Addington he knew, both from a personal acquaintance and a public acquaintance.

Mr. BURKE declared, that he did not mean, by way of retaliation, to depreciate, in the smallest degree, the talents or the character of the honourable gentleman over the way; and that nothing but having caught something of the fire. and spirit of the chancellor of the exchequer could have induced him to rise. He did not envy that right honourable gentlemen the pleasing task of endeavouring to abate somewhat of the merits of a person who had, he believed, never been the man to put his own merits forward, but had always shewn that he possessed, in an eminent degree, that modesty which was the constant companion of merit. Whatever faults he might have, Mr. Burke said, he never had attempted to depreciate rising talents. On the contrary, if he ever had any merit, it was in hailing those

superior talents whenever he had discovered them. The blossoming abilities of young members always afforded him the highest satisfaction, because it struck him as a renovation of the stock of public talent, and a pleasing earnest of the preservation of the constitution. But experience could not be drawn from blossoming talents; it could only be looked for from matured manhood; the degree of skill necessary for the chair of that House was to be expected from acquired experience rather than from brilliant talents. The House certainly might, by an arbitrary authority, place any gentleman in the chair, but the opinion of mankind must give the appointment authority; for it was not the stamp that gave the guinea currency, but the opinion of the authority of that stamp: otherwise, if a guinea were stamped by all the kings of Europe, the coin would not be current. Every country wishing to preserve its liberty, must preserve its maxims. There were maxims in all countries which were supplemental to the laws, and if any principle was necessary in a free country, it was that of adhering to its ancient and established maxims. Therefore it was, that wise republics had bound themselves down by laws, that certain offices should only be filled by certain men of a certain age, and those laws were never broken in upon, except when the country was on the verge of ruin. Mr. Burke alluded to the conduct of James I., who took the Duke of Buckingham, who had talents and some learning, and loaded him with every honour of the state. Such a conduct always led to disorder and mischief. It would, he said, be unfortunate, if the maxims of this country should be changed, and such an appointment as to the chair of that House be rashly given, merely at the will of the minister, without regard to qualification. He compared the present mode of appointment, and the recent abdication of the chair, to a successful person riding post through a town, and saying, as he went along, "Gentlemen, I am in haste; I thank you for your support, but I am going about material business. You have a succession house, a hot-bed for statesmen ; put another into the chair, and sitting there a little while, will

qualify him for another office; here is another I recommend; though he has not been many years in the House, he is known to a few members, who will answer for him." He did not doubt, Mr. Burke added, that the honourable gentleman was known to many members, but the honourable baronet was known to the House, and had been known by them for years. They had seen him make one of the greatest efforts of the human mind. His conduct had been such, that malice could not touch him in any of its parts. His character was a long unbroken line, like that which served as a boundary for various rich and fertile provinces in a geographical chart. The honourable baronet was come to that time of life, when the activity and spirit of youth became mellowed, not impaired, by the experience of age. He possessed that sweetness of temper which did not subdue, but bent the mind to authority, because all men wished to act more from love than fear.

The House divided on the motion, "That Henry Addington, Esq. do take the chair of this House as Speaker: Yeas 215: Noes 142.

LIBEL ON THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

June 16.

HIS day, Mr. Marsham said, that a paper had been just

THIS

put into his hands, containing a paragraph, which, if the word "spirit" that occurred in it, was meant in the sense in which he understood it, was a gross and scandalous libel on that House. He flattered himself, that during the time he had sat in that House, no man could accuse him of having been forward

Sir Gilbert Elliot's Speech on opening the charges against Sir Elijah Impey.

to find fault with printers, or to act as if he were in any way an enemy to the liberty of the press. No man wished it more sincerely well than he did, because no man was more thoroughly satisfied, that a free press was essential to the very existence of the constitution; but, there was a clear distinction between liberty and licentiousness, and the former could not, perhaps, be more effectually supported, than by checking and punishing every instance of the latter. He hoped, therefore, that as long as he had the honour to hold a seat in that House, he should have spirit enough to stand up an advocate for its dignity, and to move a prosecution against any person who should presume to libel its proceedings. The paragraph in question was, in his opinion, a direct attack on the dignity of that House, and a daring attempt to degrade and disgrace them in the eyes of the people of England. He trusted, therefore, that the House would order the attorney-general to prosecute the printer of the paper which contained it, and which was "The World" of that morning. Mr. Marsham read the paragraph to the House, in the following words: "Mr. Hastings's "trial is to be put off to another session, unless the Lords have spirit enough to put an end to so shameful a business." The paper was handed to the table, and the paragraph complained of read in form. After which, Mr. Marsham moved, "That an humble address be presented to his majesty, desiring that his majesty would be graciously pleased to order his attorneygeneral to prosecute the printer and publisher of the paper in question."

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Mr. BURKE said, that every member must perceive the propriety of the motion of his honourable friend, and must cordially concur in it. He, for one, felt hurt at being, from day to day, shewn these gross misrepresentations of the proceedings of that House, both in Westminster-hall and within those walls. At the same time, no man living could wish more than he did that the public should have a faithful account of all public proceedings. Every thing of a judicial nature especially ought to be transacted in the public eye, and where it could not be done in the public eye, it ought to meet the public ear, which could only be effected by suffering

but then, those accounts ought to be candid, dispassionate, and above all, true. It was known by every man, that the publication of any account whatever of matters at issue, pendente lite, was an irregular and improper proceeding: but there had been, in the paper complained of, accounts published, which were not only irregular, but in the highest degree false and scandalous. He always felt some difficulty in deciding what ought to be done on such occasions, because every man must see that there were palpable distinctions between the two cases which he had mentioned, and a question arose, whether they ought to punish those, who, without any misrepresentation, were only guilty of irregularity, for that irregularity, as well as those who added the offence of misrepresentation and rank falsehood to that of irregularity. There could be no way of proceeding, but to put a stop to such publications altogether, and to publish an account of what passed from day to day, by authority of the court, from the short-hand writer's notes, which would, in his mind, be neither practicable nor proper. Certainly, if the punctilios respecting matters at issue were carried to their utmost extent, much useful information would be suppressed. At the same time, he must confess, that it was, in his opinion, better, upon the whole, that the public should receive no information at all, than information which was false. He hoped, therefore, the honourable gentleman would take up the whole body of misrepresentation to which he had alluded, and bring all the libels touching the trial before a court of justice. Mr. Burke added, that if he were a person no ways concerned in the scene of action, but living at a distance in the country, and were to form his notions of what passed in that House and in Westminster-hall from the accounts given in the paper complained of, he should have conceived that the reverse of what happened was the true state of the fact, and that instead of the House taking members of any knowledge, experience, or ability, to act as managers of the prosecution, they had fixed upon a set of ideots, the greatest that could be found in the world. He had