§ The Speakeraddressed him as follows:—"You have been guilty of a Breach of the Privileges of this House, by aiding and abetting witnesses, who absconded, in order that they might not be required to give evidence before a Committee appointed to try the merits of a petition complaining of an undue return for the borough of Ipswich. The practice and experience of your profession must have made you acquainted with the character and consequence of your offence, the commission of which you have admitted. No doubt you would have felt great and just resentment against any one who had withdrawn a material witness, by the means of whose testimony the rights of one of your clients were injuriously affected: you must consequently feel how just and how natural it is that this House should visit, with marked severity, the offence of which you have been guilty, in withdrawing testimony essential to the vindication of the rights of the constituency of Ipswich, and the purity of election. The confinement you have suffered has, no doubt, been attended with inconvenience—perhaps with pecuniary loss; but that which you ought most acutely to feel, is the consciousness that you have incurred the merited displeasure and censure of this House. You and those who may be admonished by your case, will henceforth know that this House possesses powers to enforce obedience to its authority, and that it is invested with privileges for the benefit of the people, which it asserts with firmness and justice. I have now to acquaint you that you are discharged on payment of your fees."
§ The witness bowed and retired.
§ On the Motion of the Attorney General, it was ordered nem, con. that the address of the Speaker be entered on the journals.