90 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



all ; but, in the present instance, 

 altliougli the House might not 

 choose to allow the newspapers 

 to publish their proceedings from 

 day to day, yet they themselves 

 were aware of the necessity of 

 their being published, and intend- 

 ed to publish them in another 

 manner. When it was considered 

 that now a tenth part was de- 

 manded of every man's income, 

 and when large standing armies 

 were maintained in the country, it 

 would be too much to say that 

 the public should not know on 

 what grounds all this was necessary. 

 If, therefore, in a committee of 

 privileges, any modification of the 

 standing order for the exclusion 

 of strangers could be hit on, in 

 order to prevent its capricious en- 

 forcement, would not such an 

 emendation be highl}' advanta- 

 geous ? — Mr. Lyttleton supported 

 the motion, and conceived that 

 the committee of privileges might 

 easily find out a way of having 

 correct reports published by au- 

 thority of whatever passed in that 

 house without excluding strangers. 

 —Mr. Peter Moore asked if there 

 was any thing going forward in 

 that House of which they were 

 ashamed ? 



Sir Francis Burdett said, that if 

 lie could see in that house a body 

 of gentlemen fairly and freely se- 

 lected by the people, as the 

 guardians of their rights, then in- 

 deed he should see no particular 

 objection to the inquiry being con- 

 ducted in secret, and the evidence 

 being given to the public in the 

 manner now proposed. Unfor- 

 tunately,however,theHousestood 



before the country in circum- 

 stances of great suspicion. It had 

 been considered by some that, in 

 point of character, they were on 

 their last legs. As for his part 

 he greatly feared that, in point of 

 reputation, the House had not a 

 leg to stand upon. — The Chancel- 

 lor of the Exchequer thought it 

 highly disorderly to assert that 

 the reputation of the House of 

 Commons had not a leg to stand 

 upon. — The Speaker was of the 

 same opinion. — Sir Francis Bur- 

 dett said he had not made the as- 

 sertion positively, but only stated 

 it as his apprehension ; but, with 

 all due submission, he had not ex- 

 pected such nicety, when he re- 

 collected the 11th of May last, 

 and the acquittal of a minister de- 

 tected in an attempt to introduce, 

 by corrupt means, persons to seats 

 in that House. He had not ex- 

 pected such extreme delicacy 

 from an assembly that had, last 

 sessions, acknowledged itself to be 

 contaminated, and that by an act 

 of parliament;* nor supposed sucli 

 an extreme degree of affectation 

 of purity^ as that they must not 

 allow their ears to hear wliat they 

 were not ashamed to do. The 

 motion before them branched 

 into a threefold point of view : it 

 respected their former situation ; 

 the present practical effect of the 

 enforcement of these orders ; and 

 also the particular case. As to 

 the first, what became them for- 

 merly to do, was not the question 

 now, for they were no longer 

 what they had been then. In the 

 other two points of view he had 

 no objection to the motion. 



* In allusion to the bill brought into the House of Commons, by the chancellor 

 of the Exchequer, the 27th of March; and passed into a law, fur preventin;j the 

 sale and brokerage of offices. ' 



