The great debate on Privilege,—the question between the Lords and
Commons as to the right of the Commons to propose the abolition of Appeals to the House of Lords in Scotch and Irish causes,—came off on Monday, when Mr. Bouverie and Sir George Grey urged on Mr. Gladstone to withdraw the suggested amendment, not only for fear of endangering the Judicature Bill, but for fear of admitting to the Lords the privilege for which Lord Cairns contends. Mr. Vernon Harcourt, quoting an amusing precedent as to a privilege dispute between the Lords and Commons in Charles II.'s time, the object of which the King attributed in a very plain-spoken speech to the same cause to which Mr. Vernon Harcourt attributes the privilege claim now made,—the desire for a dissolution,—advocated the same view as Mr. Bouverie and Sir G. Grey, while Dr. Ball took the opposite side, arguing for the policy proposed by the Government.
