the chairman of the Committee of Selection; he would withdraw nothing he had written on the subject, and with this observation he bowed to the Speaker and left the House.  Mr. Estcourt, as chairman of the Committee on which Mr. O’Brien was appointed to serve, then rose and said it was his painful duty to give a narrative of facts that would explain the matter as far as he was concerned in it.  He called attention to the resolutions of the House passed in February, compelling the attendance of members on Committees.  Mr. O’Brien, he said, had received notice on the 3rd of April, that his attendance would be required on the 27th, in reply to which he wrote to him (Mr. Estcourt), enclosing a letter which he (Mr. O’Brien) had written the year before, to the effect, that he would not serve upon any Committee for the consideration of private Bills not having reference to Ireland.  His words were:  “Desiring that none but the representatives of the Irish nation should legislate for Ireland, we have no wish to intermeddle with the affairs of England or Scotland, except so far as they may be connected with the interests of Ireland, or with the general policy of the empire.”  Having read the above, Mr. Estcourt drew special attention to the next passage:  “In obedience to this principle, I have abstained from voting on English or Scotch questions of a local nature; and the same motive now induces me to decline attendance on Committees on any private Bills, except such as relate to Ireland.”  The answer, Mr. Estcourt said, he had given to this communication was, that the Committee could not recognise such an excuse; he reminded Mr. O’Brien of the resolutions of the 12th of February, but offered to consult for his convenience, inasmuch as important Irish business was before the House, by postponing, if possible, his attendance to a later period; but that unless he had heard from him (Mr. O’Brien), assenting to this, he must abide the coming vote of the House on Wednesday.  Mr. O’Brien did reply, telling Mr. Estcourt that his former communication contained his final determination; adding, that the matter was not one of private convenience but of public principle.

This statement Mr. Estcourt followed up by a motion, “That William Smith O’Brien, Esq., having disobeyed the order of the House, by refusing to attend the Committee to which the railway group eleven has been referred, has been guilty of a contempt of this House.”

On this resolution having been put, O’Connell rose and asked the House to pause before it passed it.  In the first place, he said, the House should consider, how far the Act of Union with Ireland gave the power to the members of that House, to enforce the process of contempt and committal against the representatives of Ireland; there was no common law jurisdiction for it, and before 1800 there could be no jurisdiction at all, for both that House and the Parliament of Great Britain disclaimed, in 1783, any species of interference with the representatives of