1734-35 Anno 8. Geo. II. and Levity of a Monfieur: That it was aftonishing to all Europe, that Italian Eunuchs and Singers fhould have fet Salaries, equal to thofe of the Lords of the Treafury and Judges of England. After this it was order'd, Nem. Con. That a Bill be brought in pursuant to Sir John Barnard's Motion; which was done accordingly: But it was afterwards dropt, on Account of a Claufe offer'd to be inferted in the faid Bill, for enlarging the Power of the Lord Chamberlain, with Regard to the Licensing of Plays. Mr Bramfton's Motion for reftraining touching the Right Place, contrary to March 7. Mr Bramfton moved, That the Clause of an the Counfel from Act made in the fecond Year of his prefent Majesty's Reign, offering Evidence, intitled, An Act for the more effectual preventing Bribery of Election for any and Corruption in the Elections of Members to ferve in Parthe laft Determina- liament, which relates to the laft Determination in the tion of the Houfe. Houfe of Commons, concerning Votes for Members to ferve in Parliament for any County, City, Borough, Cinque-Port, or Place; with the Claufe relating to the Oath to be taken by returning Officers, fhould be read; and the fame having been read accordingly, Mr Bramfton ftood up again, and fpoke as follows: Mr Speaker, By the Claufe of the Act now read to you, it appears, that the laft Determination of the Houfe of Commons, with regard to the Right of voting at any Election, is declared to be final to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever, any Usage to the contrary notwithstanding; fo that in all future Difputes about any Election for the fame Place, the laft Determination of this Houfe is the Rule, by which the Right of voting is to be determined, and against which no Arguments, nor any Proof can be admitted: This I take to be now the Law of the Land, and confequently is binding as well upon this House, as upon every Gentleman who has been fince that Act, or may hereafter be concerned in any Election. At all Times, Sir, and particularly in fuch a dangerous Conjuncture as the prefent, it is incumbent upon us to eftablifh among the People a good Opinion of the Impartiality, Integrity, and Justice of this House in all our Proceedings. With Refpect to State Affairs, especially fuch as relate to Foreign Tranfactions, the Facts are not publickly known, nor can the Motives or Arguments for or against any Queftion relating to them be understood by the Vulgar; and therefore in fuch Queftions it is not eafy for the People in general to comprehend the Debates; nor would it be poffible for them to discover the Injuftice or the Partiality of our Proceedings, were it poffible for this Houfe to be guilty of any fuch. But in all our Proceedings relating to Elections, the People in general, or at least those who live in the Neighbourhood of the Place where any Difpute happens about an Election, 1734-35 Election, know every Circumstance, and are as capable of Anno 8. Geo. Ii. judging of the Motives or Arguments for or against most of the Questions that occur upon fuch Occafions, as any Member of this House: And when the People obferve a Contradiction in our Determinations relating to fuch Affairs; when they observe the Right of voting at an Election given by this House to one Sort of People, and in the very next Seffion, perhaps, that Right determined by this House to be in a quite different Sort of People, they must conclude, that the Determination of this Houfe in relation to that Affair did not proceed from Juftice and Impartiality, but from private Intereft, or from Party-Zeal. This is the Conclufion they muft neceffarily form with Refpect to thofe Affairs they know, and can judge of; and the Misfortune is, that they from thence naturally conclude, that our Proceedings are governed by the fame Motives in those Affairs which they do not know, nor can judge of. To prevent an Effect fo dangerous to our Conftitution was, I believe, Sir, one of the chief Motives for inserting the Claufe now read to you in the Act of Parliament, and Care has been taken to express it in Terms fo ftrong and explicit, that it cannot, in my Opinion, be evaded by any Artifice or Subterfuge. It is now the Law of the Land'; a Law fo reasonable, that I hope it will never be altered or repealed; and a Law so plain, that I can make no Doubt, but that the laft Determination of the Houfe of Commons will, for the future, be, in all fuch Cafes, a Rule from which we cannot depart. However, Sir, as fome Gentlemen are not fufficiently apprised of this Law, or may entertain Hopes that this Houfe will not, in their future Determinations, ftrictly adhere to it, they may therefore put themfelves to great Expence in bringing up Witneffes, and may take up a great deal of your Time with Arguments to fhew, that the Right of voting at any Election now difputed, is not in thofe People only, in whom it was declared to be by the laft Determination of this Houfe: This will be putting themfelves to great Expence, and taking up the Time of this Houfe to no Purpofe, fince the laft Determination of the Houfe of Commons is now by Law established as a Rule, from which we cannot depart, notwithstanding the clearest Proof of any Ulage to the contrary. As we ought, Sir, to prevent Gentlemen putting them. felves to any needlefs Expence, as we ought to prevent their attempting to take up the Time of this Houfe to no Purpose, therefore I think this Law ought to be fome way reviv'd, not only to put Gentlemen in mind of it, but to fhew them that we are refolved to adhere to it in the strictest Manner; and as the only proper way for us to revive any Law, is by coming 1734 35. Anno 8. Geo. II. coming to fome new Refolution in relation to it, therefore I hope the House will agree to the following Motion, which is, That the Counsel at the Bar of this House, or before the Committee of Privileges and Elections, be reftrained from offering Evidence, touching the Right of Election of Members to ferve in Parliament for any City, Borough or Place, contrary to the laft Determination in the House ⚫ of Commons; which Determination, by an Act paffed in the fecond Year of his prefent Majefty's Reign, intitled, An A&t for the effectual preventing Bribery and Corruption in the Election of Members to ferve in Parliament, is made final to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever, any Ufage to the contrary notwithstanding.' Debate thereon. Mr Sandys. This Motion being feconded by Mr Sandys, and fupported Mr W. Plumer. by Mr Walter Plumer: The fame was objected to by Mr Horatio Walpole, Mr Henry Pelham, and Sir William Yonge, who did not directly oppose the Motion itself, but propofed the Delaying of it a few Days, as follows. Mr H. Walpole. Sir, I must own, I have not lately confidered the Claufe now read to you, and therefore am not prepared now to fpeak to it: But upon the first View, I take the Motion to be of the utmoft Confequence, because I look upon it as a Reftraint defigned to be put upon the Jurifdiction of this Houfe in the moft material Point, that of determining all Questions relating to electing the Members of our own House. I really never imagined, that the Intention of that A&t, or of any Claufe in it, was to reftrain the House of Commons, with respect to their Determinations in Matters of Election; for in all fuch Determinations I think we ought not to be under any Limitation, nor confined by any Rule; and if there had been any fuch Intention, I believe this House would never have agreed to the Bill, or at least that Claufe by which any fuch Restraint was intended to be laid upon this House. It is for this Reafon, Sir, that I have always imagin'd, and ftill think, that the Claufe now read to you relates only to Returning Officers, and was defigned as a Direction to them, what Sort of Perfons they were to admit to vote at any Election; with refpect to which they were by this Claufe obliged to take the last Determination of the House of Commons, as a Rule to be inviolably obferved by them at all fucceeding Elections. This. Sir, I muft ftill think, is all that was defigned by the Claufe; for it is certain, that if in all future difputed Elections, we were to take the laft Determination of this House as an infallible Rule for our Conduct, a very great Injury would thereby be done to a great many Cities and Boroughs in England; and I cannot imagine 1734 5. ne that it was ever the original Intention of any Act Anno 8. Geo. 11. liament to do an Injury to any one, much lefs to great ers of his Majesty's Subjects. vever, Sir, as I have not lately read or confidered the will not now pretend to be pofitive in my Opinion, erefore I hope the honourable Gentlemen will agree off the Confideration of this Motion to fome short to Monday next if they please, that other Gentlemen as myself may have Time to confider it, before we liged to give our Opinion in a Cafe which is certainly it Confequence.' this it was reply'd by Sir Jofeph Jekyll: Í had the Honour to be a Member of this Houfe Sir J. Jekyll. the Claufe now under Confideration had the good : to pafs, I well remember the Hiftory of it: This was not originally in the Bill, but was put into it by er House, and I believe, with a View to prevent the of it; or at least that it was the Intention of those t contrived this Claufe; for they imagined that this vould never agree to fuch an Amendment: But when came back to this House, the Gentlemen who prohe Bill were fo juftly fond of it, that they chose to all the Amendments made by the other House, among the reft, rather than lofe fo good a Bill. Into this Claufe they had a very good Reafon for to it; for tho' it did lay fome Restraint upon the ion of this Houfe in Matters of Election, yet the of the Houfe then thought it a reasonable Reand even a neceffary Reftraint, in order to prevent, to come, that frequent Contradiction in our Deters with refpect to Elections, which had in Time past contributed to the giving People a contemptible Of all the Proceedings of this House. Claufe now read to you, Sir, is fo full, and conceiverms fo plain and eafy to be understood, that I am to hear any Gentleman defire an Hour to confider ut I am still more furprised to hear any Gentleman, a Gentleman who has often attended the Comf Elections, fay, he imagined this Claufe was inly as a Direction to Returning Officers, what Sort e they were to admit to poll at any Election; beis very Direction was given by Act of Parliament ars ago to all Sheriffs and Returning Officers: So as the eighth Year of King William's Reign, all nd Returning Officers have been prohibited, by an made, to return any Member to ferve in Parliantrary to the laft Determination in the House of IV. Commons, N 1734-35. Anno 8. Geo. II. Commons, as to the Right of Election for fuch Places ; and therefore it would have been ridiculous to have inferted in a late Act fuch a Claufe as that now before us, if no more had been intended by it, than to give the fame Directions to Sheriffs and other Returning Officers, which were given to them by a former Act then in full Force: But, without any fuch Confideration, the Claufe before us is in itself fo clearly expreffed, that it is impoffible to mistake its Meaning; and as the honourable Gentleman intends nothing by his Motion but to prevent Gentlemens patting themfelves to a needlefs Expence, and giving this Houfe an unneceffary Trouble, I can fee no Reason why we should make any Difficulty in agreeing to what he has propofed. Can Gentlemen be ferious, Sir, when they fay that this Houfe is not to be confined by any Rules; that we ought not to be under any Reftraint, with refpect to our Determinations about the Election of our own Members; and that this Houfe would never have agreed to the Clause, if any fuch Thing had been intended? Our Determinations in fuch Cafes are, 'tis true, fupreme and final; but furely, Sir, even in fuch Cafes we are confined by the Rules of natural Juftice and Equity, and likewife by the antient Cuftoms and the Laws of the Kingdom. Let a Court of Judicature be as abfolute and fupreme as can be imagined, yet I fhould have a very bad Opinion of the Judges of that Court, if they confined themselves to no Rules, nor even to thofe Laws they themselves had before made for their future Conduct. I do not know but fome of the Cities and Boroughs of England may have been injured by the laft Determination of this Houfe, and in fuch a Cafe it is a Hardship to make that injurious Determination abfolute and final as to them in all Time to come; but if there were any fuch injurious Determinations made, it is the more neceffary by a Law to put a Stop to them. The Hardship is already put upon them; the Law is already paffed; it is now one of the established Laws of the Kingdom, and cannot therefore be altered or amended by any Refolution of this Houfe: It is not the first Time that a Hardfhip has been put upon particular Men for the Good of the Society in general; but in this Cafe, if any City or Borough has been injured by the laft Determination of the Houfe of Commons, and that Injury fix'd upon them by the Law now under our Confideration, they may apply to Parliament for Relief, and will certainly obtain an Act of Parliament for that Purpose, which is the only Method by which they can now be relieved; fo that the Hardship, if any has been put upon them, cannot come under our Confideration in the prefent Question. However, |