HIST O R Y OF E tl R P E. 



99 



baronet. Mr. Lethbritlge then 

 gave in at the table, Cobbett's 

 Weekly Register of Saturday, the 

 2ith of March, 1810: and sir 

 Francis Burdett's papers were read 

 by the clerk. 



Among the most offensive and 

 obnoxious passages, pointed out 

 by Mr. Lethbridge, in sir Francis 

 Burdett's letter and argument, 

 were the following : " the House 

 of Commons having passed a vote 

 which amounts to a declaration 

 that an order of theirs is to be 

 of more importance than Magna 

 Charta, and the laws of the land, 

 I think it my duty to lay my sen- 

 timents thereon before my consti- 

 tuents, whose character as free- 

 men, and even whose personal 

 safety, depend, in a great degree, 

 on the decision of this question ; 

 a question of no less importance 

 than this — whether our liberty be 

 still to be secured by the laws of 

 our forefathers, or be to lie at the 

 absolute mercy of a part of our 

 fellow-subjects, collected together 

 by means luliich. it is not necessary 

 Jbr me to describe." 



"If they (the House of Com- 

 mons) have the absolute power 

 of imprisoning and releasing, why 

 may they not send their prisoner 

 to York gaol, as well as to a gaol in 

 London i Why not confine men 

 in solitary cells, or load them with 

 chains and bolts ? They have not 

 gone these lengths yet. But what 

 is to restrain them, if they are to 

 be the sole judges of the extent 

 of their own powers, and if they 

 are to exercise those powers with- 

 out any control, and without leav- 

 ing the parties whom they choose 

 to punish, any mode of appeal^ 

 any means of redress ?" 



"By proceeding thus, they may 



have exercised a jurisdiction not 

 vested in them ; a jurisdiction be- 

 yond the limits of king, lords, and 

 commons, while Magna Charta 

 remains unrepealed ; and repeal- 

 ed it never can be till England 

 shall have found her grave in the 

 corruption of the House of Com- 

 mons." 



" But no wonder when they 

 have so entirely departed from the 

 ends of their institution, as was 

 offered to be proved by Mr. Mad- 

 docks, andacknowledgedbythem- 

 selves in the never-to-be-forgotten 

 morningof the 11th of May, 1809, 

 when from being the lower, or in- 

 ferior (for it is the same sense, 

 one being an English, the other a 

 Latin word), branch of the legis- 

 lature, they have become, by bur- 

 gage tenure, the proprietors of the 

 whole representation, and in that 

 capacity, inflated with their high- 

 flown fanciful ideas of majesty, 

 and tricked out in the trappings of 

 royally, think privilege and pro- 

 tection beneath their dignity, as- 

 sume the sword of prerogative, 

 and lord it equally over the king 

 and the people." 



Sir Francis Burdett said, that in 

 writing the Address to his Consti- 

 tuents, and the arguments that 

 accompanied it, he had no idea 

 that he was infringing any privi- 

 lege of that House. Was it to 

 be supposed that the simple act 

 of arguing on the powers of the 

 Commons was a crime ? Would 

 not the House endure even an ab- 

 stract doubt of their powers ? He 

 was willing to abide by the fact 

 and argument of what he had 

 written. He would stand the 

 issue. But, if it was the pleasure 

 of the House that he should nnw 

 withdraw, he was ready to wfth- 



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