§ MR. P. A. TAYLORsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to a report of a decision by Mr. Knox at Marlborough Street in a case of violence proved to have been exercised by a policeman against a person not inside, 2134 nor seeking to enter, the Park; the summons having been discharged with these words—
Do not blame the constable who has given you a chance blow, but blame those who turned loose the scum and refuse of the town on the peaceable inhabitants.
§ MR. WALPOLE,in reply, said, his attention had not been called to that particular case until the hon. Gentleman put his Notice on the Paper; but that day he had inquired into the matter, and had read the whole of the report of the case. The question which the hon. Member had put to him would convey a false impression as to what had actually taken place. What took place on that occasion was not, as the question would seem to imply, that the person referred to was not mixed up with the riot at the time, but the magistrate gave a very clear exposition of the law, quoting the highest authority, and pointing out that it was the duty of the police when any riotous proceedings occurred to put them down, and to use force for that purpose if necessary. The observations with which the question closed would, he thought, bear a very different aspect from that which it seemed to bear as it stood, if it were taken in connection with the preceding remarks of the magistrate, who said—
With reference to the evidence given by the defendant, I think it completely contradicts the evidence given by the witnesses for the prosecution. There was a tumultuous mob which the constable was engaged in dispersing. He was in the execution of his duty, and the summons must be discharged. He would say to the prosecutor before he left the Court, should he find himself in the position of being present where riotous proceedings were going on—don't blame the constable who has given you a chance blow, but blame those who turned loose the scum and refuse of the town on the peaceable inhabitants.