WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1831-1832
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by a British Parliament. I dislike precedents where the rights of a citizen are at stake. They cannot bind as when drawn from British history, because our constitution and laws are dissimilar to those in England. The privileges of Parliament, however, are in some degree defined by the laws and precedents of that coun- try, and if they were binding, I should yet be acquitted, even on their own ground, for the most distinguished jurists of England, men who have devoted their whole lives to the study of her consti- tutional laws, have expressly decided that when a libel uttered by a member of Parliament is published by him, the act of publica- tion places him out of the protection of his privilege. In the establishment of this position I am entrenched in authorities, as distinguished and unquestionable as any that can be relied on by gentlemen on the other side. And surely it cannot possibly be supposed that this court has a right to exercise powers which the Parliament of England does not claim for its members, though they are lords and dukes. The nations of the old world are looking for your decision. A great principle is involved. The liberties of more than twelve millions of souls are at stake, and my chief regret is, that, on so weighty a subject, I am so incompetent to the task which has fallen to my lot, and that I do not possess those abilities which would enable me fully to show what blessings on the one hand, or what curses on the other, must flow from the decision to which this House shall arrive. While the people of other nations are contemplating all that is sublime and beautiful of government, .as exhibited in the American constitution; while they look to her fair plains and her fruitful valleys as a land of refuge for . the oppressed, a sacred sanctuary which stands ready to receive and protect those who fly from shores polluted by the influence of despotism; while tha hope of the philantropist is full blown, and all eyes are directed to this land as the land of human promise, shall it be told that there exists in the midst of us a privilege regulated by no law, and of so mysterious a nature that the citizen of this republic knows not when he violated it? Published this fact among other na- tions, and none wili think of flying to a country where even their personal liberty must depend upon caprice, and must lie at the mercy of a principle purely tyrannical-for, whether exercised by one or many, the principle, I repeat, is tyrannical. It is capricious, and, in its practical effects, may become cruel in the - .
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