The Bishop of LONDON said, he hoped it would not go forth to the public,
that, if the right reverend prelates had been present at the conclusion
of the trial, they would have considered themselves more than any other
member of their Lordships’ House implicated in any expression of
sentiment made use of by the Attorney-General. If he had been present on
the occasion, he would have listened to the expression of those
sentiments to which reference had been made with deep regret; and he
felt it his duty to state, that there was not, in the matter before
their Lordships, anything, in his opinion, that called for the
expression of any such sentiments on the part of the legal officer of
the Crown, who filled the situation of public prosecutor on that
occasion, and who, it appeared to him, had gone beyond the limits of his
province in making them. He felt himself bound to say, that he entirely
concurred in the sentiments which the noble Earl had thrown out; and he
now expressed a strong hope, that the recent unfortunate occurrence,
together with other cases which had taken place during the last few
years, would induce their Lordships, as the chief component part of the
legislature, to take the question into their deep and serious
consideration, and to see whether something could not be done to put an
end to that which was a shame and a scandal. It was a custom derived
from the barbarous ages: it was the remains of that system of chivalry,
which, though perhaps it might have been of great use at the time when
it prevailed, was utterly inconsistent with the manners and customs of
the present day. The system in which it originated had long passed by;
but it had unhappily left behind it one of its worst features in the
barbarous, wicked, and unchristian practice of duelling.