BREACH OF PRIVILEGE. (Hansard, 20 April 1809)

§ Sir Charles Hamilton

presented a Petition from Daniel Butler, the Sheriff's officer, by whom he had been arrested, and who had been confined in Newgate, in consequence of such a breach of the privileges of Parliament. The Petition stated, That the petitioner with all humility and contrition, most humbly begs pardon of the house, and particularly of sir Charles Hamilton, bart., the hon. member whom he so grossly and personally insulted on Wednesday the 12th day of this instant April, as appears by the Votes of the house as follows; "That, on Wednesday last, about half an hour after three of the clock in the afternoon, he was arrested in his own house by the said Daniel Butler (an officer of the Sheriff of Middlesex), and that he was insulted by him for endeavouring to convince him that he was not the person specified in the writ, in breach of the privileges of this house;" upon which Complaint the petitioner was by the house committed to Newgate; and that the petitioner has been an officer to the Sheriff of Middlesex ten years, in which situation he trusts he has conducted himself with the strictest propriety; and intentionally to give any offence, or to attempt to arrest any hon. member of this house, is the last thing he could think of, well knowing how they are privileged; but this unfortunate mistake arose from the instruction he received from a brother-officer, who requested the petitioner to execute the said writ for him, it being a practice for one officer to oblige another in that way; and the petitioner had a paper to that effect in his hand when at the bar of the house on Friday last; and that the petitioner, after he was so committed, in the lobby of the house expressed his sorrow and contrition to the said sir Charles Hamilton for the great offence he had committed on his person in so arresting him for another baronet of the said name, the writ being for a sir John Charles Hamilton; and the petitioner begs to state that he has a wife and seven 101 children that depend upon his exertion for their support, and they as well as the petitioner lament this unfortunate transaction, and humbly implore the house, that, in their mercy, they will pardon the petitioner's great crime, and order him to be brought up to the bar of the house to be discharged, the petitioner being fully convinced of his crime.