§ The Speakerrose and said:—I have to acquaint the House, that on Saturday, the 16th instant, I received a letter from a gentleman of the name of Robert Christie Burton, describing himself to be member of parliament, for the borough of Beverley, which 129 letter, with the permission of the House, I will now read:—"Ludgate Hill, No 39, January 14th 1819. Sir; I have the honour to inform you that, on the 17th day of June 1818, I was elected member of parliament to represent the borough of Beverly, in the east riding of the county of York; but, being in the custody of the warden of his majesty's prison of the court of Common pleas, at the suit of creditors for civil debts, the deputy warden, Mr. Nixon, informs me, that he cannot consent to release me until he shall be authorized to that effect by a warrant from the right hon. the Speaker of the House of Commons; I am therefore to request that you will be pleased to inform me what are the requisite steps to be adopted upon the occasion. I have the honour to be, &c. Robert Christie Burton, M. P." I wrote to Mr. Christie, in answer, that I would take the first opportunity of laying his letter before the House. I afterwards received a second letter as follows:—"Ludgate Hill, No. 39, Jan. 20th 1819. Sir, I am to request that you will be pleased not to consider my letter of the 14th instant as an official communication, or in a parliamentary point of view, as circumstances will occur enabling me to take my seat in the House on Monday next. I have the honour, &c. Robert Christie Burton, M. P." In consequence of this request, I did not lay the preceding letter before the House. Late last night I received a third letter, as follows:—"Ludgate Hill, No. 39, Jan. 26th, 1819. Sir; Having perused the various acts of parliament, and consulted the best authorities, relative to my situation as a member of the House of Commons, I beg leave to refer you to my letter of the 14th instant upon the subject, and to request that you will be pleased to take the earliest opportunity of submitting my case to the House, in order that I may be enabled to avail myself of those privileges to which I am entitled as a representative in parliament. I have the honour to be, &c. Robert Christie Burton, M. P." The House will perhaps pardon me for calling their attention to a similar occurrence which took place in 1807, when an hon. member stated that he was detained in similar confinement. An order was then made to refer the complaint to the committee of privileges, which sat next day, and whose only object was, to establish 130 the identity of the individual. That having been proved, the committee made their report, and he was ordered to be discharged out of custody. Some hon. member will perhaps move a similar proceeding in the present instance.
Mr. Bathurstaccordingly moved, "That it be referred to the committee of privileges to examine the subject matter of the said letters, and report the same, with their opinion thereupon, to the House." The motion was agreed to, and the committee was instructed to sit tomorrow.