Mr. Havelock Wilson raised a question of privilege in the
House of Commons on Tuesday night concerning an article in the St. James's Gazette on the result of the recent trial, in which he obtained only one farthing damages for the libel of which he complained. The Speaker, however, who always appears to act in such matters with the utmost discretion, ruled that there was no breach of privilege in even a severe attack on a Member in relation to matters which bad no relation to his conduct as a Member of the Legislature, but told Mr. Wilson that he could claim to make a personal explanation so long as he did not go into details on subjects which he had had an opportunity of going into at the recent triaL He was entitled only to make a properly limited personal explanation. Mr. Havelock Wilson then asked to have a Committee of the House appointed from both sides of the House to examine into the charges made against him ; but Mr. Balfour replied that the House is not a fitting body to appoint anew tribunal to rehear a case which had already been brought before a Court of Justice. Nor do we suppose that Mr. Wilson's further suggestion that a voluntary Committee of Members of the House should go into the matter is at all likely to be accepted. It is a rash and dangerous thing to improvise Courts of Justice, consisting of men neither experienced in the sifting of complicated evidence in the significance of which they can feel no keen interest, nor likely to be able to spend the time necessary for getting at the truth, even if they were deeply interested in the investigation.
Previous page
