Alexandria Gazette & Daily Advertiser

THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT.

The proceedings which took place in the house of commons on the 23d of Nov. last, appears to have been viewed by the London Courier in a more serious light than the summary of the proceedings of that day, as given in some of the papers would lead us to suppose they were entitled to. That paper, in alluding to the tumult in the house, says—'At last, our soi-disant constitutional whigs have thrown off the mask, and the attempt of yesterday to renew the tyranny of the long parliament, will open the eyes of the few real friends of the constitution, who have been hitherto blind to the object of these new men of the mountain.'

The persons who were most conspicuous on this occasion are charged in a direct manner, with having made an attempt to overthrow the monarchy, by endeavoring to oppose the right vested in the crown to prorogue parliament. Mr. Bennet is said to have attempted to drown the voice of the usher of the black rod in the delivery of his message, by the 'most violent yells and frantic disturbance,' and that at one moment the confusion was so great as to lead the house to believe that force would be employed to prevent the speaker's obeying the royal summons.

Mr. Tierney, Mr. Bennet, Sir R. Wilson, and Mr. Joseph Hume, are named as the leaders of this riot. These members are charged with having prepared the tumult beforehand, to prevent the possibility of the message being read, in order to give Mr. Tierney an opportunity to make the remark which he is said to have made, viz. 'that a message not heard, could not be obeyed.' It appears however that the intentions of the opposition was defeated by the firmness of the king's ministers, and the country thereby saved. In alluding to this expected triumph, the Courier says:

'But what a triumph would it have been if they had succeeded, what would have been the consequences? Consequences, which, we candidly confess, we do not believe the most violent of the party are at this moment prepared for, but which would inevitably have followed on the success of their first indiscretion: a permanent house of commons—which in a few days, would have become a National Convention: the dispersion of the House of Lords: the overthrow of the Throne: the ruin of the constitution: and all the bloody horrors of a civil war: One step, one single step, would have opened this tremendous road and GOD alone can tell in what storms, darkness, bloodshed, and misery we should have been obliged to travel in. Like the Hell gate of the Italian poet, the career of revolution excludes all hope, and the madness of half an hour, or of half a dozen of blockheads, might have plunged the nation into disasters without limit, and without end.

'If the house of commons had been yesterday kept together by violence, the British Constitution—the legacy of our ancestors, the safeguard of ourselves, & the hope of our posterity—would not have been this morning in existence!'