btained damages, which were duly
paid. Stockdale, encouraged by this success, when, in spite of the
result of the late trial, Hansard continued to sell the report, brought
a fresh action; but now the House forbade the publishers to plead to it;
and, as they obeyed the prohibition, and forbore to plead, the case
eventually came before the Sheriff's Court; fresh damages were given,
and, in obedience to the writ of the Queen's Bench, the sheriffs seized
Hansard's goods, and sold them to satisfy the judgment. Lord John
Russell, as leader of the House, moved to bring to the Bar of the House
all the parties concerned in the action--the plaintiff, his attorney,
the sheriffs, and the under-sheriffs. He was opposed by nearly all the
legal members of the House except the crown lawyers, Sir Edward Sugden
especially warning the House that "a resolution of the House was of no
avail in a court of justice;" while others taunted the House with want
of courage in not proceeding against the judges themselves, rather than
against their officers, which in this case the sheriffs were.

There could be no doubt of the importance of the question, since it was
no less, as the Attorney-general, Sir J. Campbell, put it, than a
question whether Parliament or the courts of law had the superiority;
and now Sir Robert Peel, as leader of the Opposition, came to the
support of Lord John Russell, declaring his opinion to be, first, that
"the House possessed every privilege necessary for the proper and
effectual discharge of its functions;" secondly, that "the publication
of evidence which had led the House to adopt any course was frequently
essential to justify that course to the nation;" and thirdly, that "to
judge of the extent of their privileges, and to vindicate them by their
own laws, belonged to the House alone." And he pressed strongly on the
House that it was "the duty of the House to fight the battle to the
last," though he confessed that "it was with pain that he had come to
the determination of entering into a contest with the courts of law." On
one point the judges agreed with the House of Commons. The House
committed the sheriffs; but, when they sued out their _habeas corpus_,
the judges decided that the return of the Sergeant-at-arms that they
were committed by the House for breach of privilege was a sufficient
return. Stockdale brought fresh actions. But meantime the case was
arousing a strong excitement in the country.[257] The singular