Lord Folkestonerose to move for certain papers, upon the subject of the prosecution against a man of the name of De Yonge, convicted of selling guineas. To this motion he understood 882 there was no objection, and, he should therefore call for copies of the indictment, under which the prosecution was carried on twelve months since. The case of this man was, in his opinion, a peculiarly hard one: he had been prosecuted under an obsolete statute passed in the reign of Edward the 6th, which provided a punishment for what was thereby constituted a crime. Upon that prosecution he was convicted, but a point of law was urged by his counsel, and reserved by the Judge who tried him for the opinion of the twelve judges. The question for consideration was, whether the act imputed to the defendant was a crime or not. Tue noble lord saw nothing but hardship in the case, for De Yonge had done nothing more than what bankers and merchants were constantly in the habit of doing and of course were amenable for it under the statute alluded to, namely, paying a premium for gold and silver, not certainly for any unjust uses, but to carry their business on. The act imposed a punishment both on buyer and seller. When persons of such great consequence in the state were amenable, it was rather hard to select an unknown individual like De Yonge for prosecution. When the arguments came on, the decision was delayed from term to term on account of their not being complete; and it was not until the expiration of twelve months that De Yonge was enabled to obtain a decision, which was in his favour, and he was acquitted by the opinion of the twelve judges, they being of opinion that no prosecution could lie. Under these circumstances, he wished to bring the matter before the House, in order that some remedy might be applied to prevent a recurrence of the evil, De Yonge having been put to great expence in defending himself, and to much inconvenience, by the great delay before the decision was known. The noble lord then moved for a copy of the Indictment found against De Yonge for selling guineas; and also of the record of all sub-sequent proceedings had thereupon.
The Attorney Generalshould not have been surprised at the motion of the noble lord, if he had imputed to those who carried on the prosecution against De Yonge any unnecessary delay, or improper conduct in bringing it on for trial; not having so done, he could not see on what grounds he desired the papers. He had not imputed blame to any one, and with respect to the delay which had necessarily taken 883 place, that did not depend on the prosecutors. It arose from circumstances which could not be avoided. In some cases the judges decided immediately; in others, involving like the present a question of much importance, they wished for further time for consideration. They had heard, not as the noble lord supposed, incomplete arguments, but arguments proceeding from the minds of some of the most learned men at the bar. Wishing to hear further arguments, they delayed their decision until those doubts which were considerable, were entirely removed. They then gave their opinion in favour of an acquittal. He saw no reason for the motion, and should oppose it.
Lord Folkestoneadmitted that great learning, and much research had been displayed in the arguments. He did not mean by stating that the arguments were incomplete to impute a defect, but to shew that the judges were not satisfied with them.
§ The motion was then put and negatived.