Sir E. Wilmotbegged to ask the noble Lord whether it was the intention of his Majesty's Government to bring in a Bill in the present Session embodying the recommendation of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the state of the criminal law respecting the age at which boys were to be subjected to summary punishment? 927 If it were not the intention of his Majesty's Government to bring in such a Bill, he begged to ask whether if he, humble individual as he was, were to do so, Government would support—he would not say the details, for those might be subjects of a variety of opinions, but—the principle of the measure?
§ Lord John Russellhad no intention to bring in any such Bill himself, nor did he believe that any other Member of his Majesty's Government contemplated doing so. If the hon. Baronet thought proper to bring in a Bill upon the subject, he (Lord John Russell) would give it his serious attention, and if he found that it did not violate the principle of trial by jury it should have his support.