HISTORY 6V EUROPE. 



83 



" Oracle," which was as follows : — 

 " To the honourable the house of 

 " commons, in parliament assem- 

 " bled. The petition of Peter Stu- 

 " art, printer, and publisher of a 

 " morning newspaper, entitled The 

 •' Daily Advertiser, Oracle, and 

 " True Briton, most humbly shew- 

 " eth, that, for the publication of 

 " (hat part of the p.iper of Thursday 

 " last, deemed highly offensive to 

 '< this honourable house, he feels 

 " the deepest regret ; and that, al- 

 " though certain expressions in that 

 '* paragraph be indiscreet and un- 

 " guarded, and such as have incur- 

 " red the displeasure of this import- 

 " ant branch of the British constitu- 

 '• tion ; yet, that your petitioner 

 '• humbly hopes, on this acknow- 

 " ledgment of his sincere sorrow, 

 " this honourable house, in the 

 *' plenitude of its condescension and 

 " liberality, will be pleased to par- 

 " don him for a transgression, solely 

 " attiihutable to the hasty compo- 

 " sition of a newspaper, and not 

 " to any deliberate design of oti'cnd- 

 " ing this honourable house. That 

 " your petitioner is emboldened to 

 " solicit your indulgence and for- 

 " giveness, on his well founded as- 

 " surance, tliat, during the several 

 " years in which he has conducted a 

 '' newi-pnp.'r, it has uniformly been 

 •" his piincii;;!/ and pride zealously 

 '♦* lo support (he character and dig- 

 " nity of the house of commons ; 

 " and, that it has frequently fallen 

 *< lo his lot to have vindicated both 

 '♦ from the charges of societies, ex- 

 " prcssly instituted to bring thcnx 

 " into public disrepute and con- 

 " tempt. In any observalions which 

 *' your petitioner may have publish- 

 " ed. on the conduct of lord Mcl- 

 *^ villc, he could not but bear in 

 *^ ipind, thut the views of those so- 



cieties, abetting domestic treason, 

 and assisted by the cc-operaiion 

 of the revolutionary power of 

 France, would, he verily believes, 

 have ettected the destruction of 

 the British constitution, had nob 

 the wise and efficient measures, 

 brought forward by that admini- 

 stration in which lord Melville 

 held so conspicuous a situation, 

 be'en adopted, and this honoura- 

 ble Isouse would not, in that case, 

 perhaps, have been now in exist- 

 ence, either to censure lord Mel- 

 ville, or to pardon your petition- 

 er. — That if any thing could 

 increase your petitioner's regret, 

 it would be, its being supposed 

 that the objectionable paragraph 

 was directed also against the 

 right honourable the speaker of 

 the house of commons : that your 

 petitioner has no hesitation to de- 

 clare, that no idea was ever more 

 ren)ote fr.^m his mind : and, that 

 your petitioner would be the very 

 last person to insinuate any thing 

 disrespectful of a character, whom 

 he, in conjunction with the whole 

 nation, highly esteems as a private 

 gentleman, and most profoundly 

 venerates as the head and public 

 organ of this honourable house. 

 That your petitioner most humbly 

 hopes this honourable house will 

 consent to his release ; and your 

 ])eti(ioner will ever pray. Sec. 

 " P. Stuart." 

 The jietltion being read, the ho- 

 nourabli> baronet moved, " that the 

 " said P.'ter Stuart be brought to the 

 " bar and be discharged." 



Mr. Windham called (he atten- 

 tion of the house to this petition, 

 and asked if any thing like it had 

 ever been known ? lie' left it to the 

 discretion of the h^iourable baro- 

 net, whether, after hearing fhis 

 (j % oxtraordiuary 



