HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



93 



forcement of the standing order for 

 shuttmg out strangers from the 

 gallery of the House of Commons, 

 ought to be censured as an insi- 

 dious and ill-timed attack on the 

 liberties of the press, as tending to 

 aggravate the discontents of the 

 people, and to render their repre- 

 sentatives objects of jealous suspi- 

 cion. — The present question was 

 brought forward as a comparative 

 inquiry, and may be justly expect- 

 ed to furnish a contested and inte- 

 restingdebate. PrintedbyJ.Dean, 

 57, Wardour-street." 



Mr. Yoike having stated this in 

 the House of Commons, February 

 the 19th, John Dean was ordered 

 to attend at the bar of that House 

 to-morrow. He attended on that 

 day, at the bar of the House ac- 

 cordingly ; and being asked what 

 he had to say for himself respect- 

 ing the offence he had committed, 

 declared that he had been employ- 

 ed to print the paper by John Gale 

 Jones. It was moved by Mr. 

 Yorke, and voted nem. con. " that 

 the said John Dean, in having 

 printed the said paper, had been 

 guilty of a high breach of the pri- 

 vilege of that House." Dean was 

 committed to the custody of the 

 serjeant-at-arms, and Jones order- 

 ed to attend to-morrow, February 

 the 21st, John Gale Jones being 

 brought to the bar, the Speaker 

 stated to him what had been 

 declared by the printer, and asked 

 him what he had to say in his own 

 behalf? Mr. Jones answered, " I 

 acknowledge. Sir, that I was the 

 author of that paper ; and I am 

 extremely sorry that the printer of 

 it has suffered inconvenience on 

 my account." Jones, at the desire 

 of the Speaker, repeated what he 

 had said ; and the question being 

 put to him, if he had any thing 

 more to say in his own behalf, 



declared that " in what he had 

 done he was not actuated by any 

 disrespect to the privileges of the 

 House, or the persons of any of 

 its members individually. He 

 had always considered it to be the 

 privilege of every Englishman to 

 animadvert on public measures, 

 and the conduct of public men. 

 But, in looking over the paper 

 in question again, he found that 

 he had erred. He begged to ex- 

 press his sincere contrition, and 

 threw himself on the mercy of 

 that honourable House — that 

 House, which, as an important 

 branch of the constitution, had 

 always had his unfeigned respect." 

 The Speaker then put the ques- 

 tion, that the said John Gale 

 Jones had been guilty of a gross 

 breach of the privileges of that 

 House; which was carried netn. 

 con. 



Mr. Yorke then rose and said 

 that, after the vote just passed, it 

 was impossible not to follow it up 

 by some further resolution, which 

 should mark how sensible the 

 House itself was of the insult of- 

 fered to its high authority by the 

 person now at the bar; and, by 

 making a proper example, warn 

 such persons against taking upon 

 them to comment in such a way 

 upon the proceedings of that 

 House, and the conduct of its 

 members. He therefore moved, 

 " that John Gale Jones, for his 

 offence, be committed to his Ma- 

 jesty's gaol of Newgate." The 

 question being put was carried 

 nem, con. — As to John Dean, he 

 was, at the intercession of Mr. 

 Yorke, on presenting a petition 

 humbly praying for forgiveness, 

 and being reprimanded by the 

 Speaker, discharged out of custody 

 without paying any fees. — It was 

 ordered, new, con, that what had 



