HC Deb 19 February 1838 vol 40 cc1248-9
Mr. James

hoped the House would bear with him for a few minutes whilst he made a remark or two on a matter personal to himself, and connected with the privileges of the House. In the course of; the debate which took place on the motion of the hon. Member for the City of London, he (Mr. James) took occasion to say, that certain tenants-at-will, voters for East Cumberland, after signing a requisition to secure the return of his (Mr. James's) colleague and himself, had been urged by their landlords to violate their pledges and vote for Sir James Graham. He (Mr. James) was called upon to name, and he named the steward of the returning officer, Sir Francis Vane. That statement was strictly true, perfectly correct, and he could prove the fact; but the observation with regard to the notices given to certain tenants, who were threatened to be ejected from their farms, was not intended to apply to the same party, but to other parties. He had no doubt the error had arisen in some of the historical records of Friday last, either from his (Mr. James) having been indistinctly heard, or his imperfect manner of expressing himself, because no man was more ready than himself to acknowledge the general accuracy by which the reports of their debates were distinguished; indeed, it was perfectly wonderful how they could be given in so short a space of time so correctly as they were. He (Mr. James) would have made this explanation on Friday last, but he was unwilling to trouble the House with a matter personal to himself; but he did on that day write a letter to the editor of a paper in Cumberland, having the largest circulation, correcting the error. He had since received a letter from Sir F. Vane, who was not in the North, but in the South, and who was anxious that the error should be corrected as soon as possible. Sir F. Vane was a particular friend of his, and nothing would hurt him more than to have been supposed to have attributed to him any unjust, harsh, and tyrannical conduct, because he knew he was utterly incapable of it, and he was anxious not to wound the feelings of his friend, especially at the present moment, as he was suffering from a long, severe, and painful illness.

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