S4 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



extraordinary petition, he would 

 persevere in his motion. 



Sir H. Mildmay said, he really 

 saw nothing improper in it, and us 

 to the credit given to lord Melville, 

 and those who acted with him, for 

 those measures which enabled the 

 house to preserve its place, he had 

 no hesitation for himself to avow the 

 same principle: he should, therefore, 

 persevere in his motion. 



Mr. Fox thought it unnecessary, 

 and improper to introduce, into a 

 petition of this nature, any opinion 

 respecting the former conduct of 

 lord Melville, unless it were lor the 

 purpose of attacking those who 

 brougW him before the house : he 

 could not conceive how such a de- 

 fence could be admitted ; unless mi- 

 nisters meant that those who were 

 brought before them, for libelling 

 that house, might plead, ns a justifica- 

 tion, they had uniformly supported 

 administration, and had only libelled 

 those who composed the minority. 



The Chancellor of the Exchequer 

 admitted, that if the petitioner stated 

 generally that he had been in the 

 habit of supporting administration, 

 it would be no justification of him ; 

 but being accused of a libel on the 

 house of commons, it was material 

 to him to shew, that he was so far 

 from being in the habit of libelling 

 them, he had always before support- 

 ed their resolutions and decisions. 

 The language of the petition was 

 not that which appeared to him 

 most proper, but it was almost the 

 common fault of Ihose connected 

 with the press, that they assumed 

 a loftier tone, and perhaps gave 

 themselves more importance, than 

 naturally belouijed io them. As to 

 the danger of the times, in which 

 the petitioner snid he had supported 

 the house of commons, and that the 



administration, of which lord Mel- 

 ville was one, had been the salvation 

 of the country, the opinion was not 

 singular : it had been, for years, the 

 prevailing opinion of both houses of 

 parliament, and of a considerable 

 portion of the people of the coun- 

 try. With the exception of his pro- 

 fessions of respect for the speaker, 

 and esteem for the character of lord 

 Melville, the rest of the petition 

 breathed nothing but sorrow and 

 contrition. 



IMr. Windham reciuestod the house 

 to observe, how small a part of this 

 petition was taken up with the lan- 

 guageofsorrow and contrition ; and, 

 on account of the character and 

 complexion of the performance all 

 together, he should feel it necessary 

 to move an amendment. But, on the 

 suggestion of Sir William Burroughs, 

 the speaker acquainted the right ho- 

 nourable gentleman, that it was in- 

 competent for him to move any 

 amcMdmcnt, as he had spoken be- 

 fore on the debate. 



Mr. Grey considered the petition 

 to have been written altogether in 

 a state of defiance and accusation. 

 It was an attack upon their charac- 

 ter as judges, sitting in a court of 

 justice, and calling them intempe- 

 rate, partial, and presumptuous. He 

 considered the petition as an aggra- 

 vation of the original offence, and 

 thought that the punishment ought to 

 be increased. 



Mr. Canning said, he saw no ne- 

 cessity for censuring the petitioner, 

 f'or merely answering a charge that 

 had been brought against him. As 

 the petitioner had defended, with 

 mistaken zeal, the man who had 

 been the victim of the anger of that 

 house, was it unfair for him, in exte- 

 nuation, to shew the, causes which 

 had produced that zeal ? He wished, 



however, 



