Mr. Plimsoll, who is determined to carry his point of
saving- British seamen, no matter at what cost to our Parliamentary- institutions, was accused on Tuesday night of a breach of privilege, for having placarded Westminster and Guildford with appeals to the electors of those boroughs against the con- duct of their representatives—i.e., Sir Charles Russell for Westminster, and Mr. Onslow for Guildford,—in preventing the second reading of his Bill for compelling grain-ships to have their grain stored in sacks, after half-past twelve at night. No doubt, the effect of this public attack on Members of the House,. for availing themselves of the ordinary rules of the House in re- spect to legislative business, is to terrorise Members, by making them unpopular, not to say odious, in their constituencies, for- a course of action perfectly constitutional, and possibly enough,. quite conscientious. Mr. Plimsoll must not be permitted, even in the fanaticism of his philanthropy, to paralyse the legitimate exercise of Parliamentary discretion. To save grain-ships is well ; but to save Parliamentary freedom,—which is quite as likely to be swamped, between the attacks made on it by the Executive on one side and by the zealots. of the democracy on the other,—is even better.
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