Remarks on the Anatomy Bill now before Parliament : in a letter addressed to the Right Hon. the Lord Althorp, and given to the members of either House on their personal or written application to the publisher / by G.J. Guthrie.

  • Guthrie, G. J. (George James), 1785-1856.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the Anatomy Bill now before Parliament : in a letter addressed to the Right Hon. the Lord Althorp, and given to the members of either House on their personal or written application to the publisher / by G.J. Guthrie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    as they are wanted; but is it the justice which every man has a right to ex- pect will be the foundation of an Act of Parliament? I answer distinctly that it is not: that it is a direct violation of the first principles of it, and a most wicked degradation of the poor man to take him for the sole purpose of convenience, as long as there is a convicted criminal who might be taken in his place. It is a question between justice and convenience. The former Bill of Mr. Warburton’s which passed through the House of Commons was one of the most oppressive, unjust, and impracticable bills ever introduced into either House of Parliament. It was quite impossible to work it by the clauses as they appeared in the Bill, and therefore it was that I described it as a Bill which “said every thing but what it meant, and meant every thing but what it said.” Nevertheless I am informed it was revised and corrected by more than one of the ablest men on both sides of the Commons ; and if this be true it only shews that men of the greatest talent and ability should be careful how they legislate on subjects they do not and cannot, from their situation, thoroughly understand. The private nature and effects which would have followed this Bill if it had become a law, were utterly unknown to nearly all the members of the House of Commons who approved of it. They may even have been unknown to its authors; and if this should have been the case, it will, I hope, render gentlemen more cautious in future on such particular subjects, and give rise to a different constitution of the Committees, to which future Bills may be referred. There are no medical men, professedly as such, in the House of Commons, and none therefore can he placed on the Committee above stairs; but it would be but liberal in Mr. Warburton, or at all events in your Lordship, as the head of the Government in the House of Commons, to allow the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons to name each, if they wish it, two of their friends, Members of the House, to represent them in the Com- mittee, with whom they might occasionally confer, and who would have the opportunity of stating their opinions on various points with which, it may be reasonably supposed, the members generally are not acquainted. I am aware it may be said that this is not a Committee on a private Bill, and I have no wish to give offence to any one, and particularly to Mr. Warburton, in my reply, when I say that, although the Committees which took this subject into consideration were Committees on public measures, still their proceed- ings appeared to me to be conducted in the same manner as Committees on private Bills. That is, there were gentlemen attending where opinions were taken privately as well as publicly, on various points. These persons were mostly gentlemen in private life, who approved of the various clauses proposed in that Bill, and who had their own objects in view. There were none present in opposition to them. The questions put to the witnesses by the Select Com- mittee on Anatomy, did not elicit the whole of the opinion of the different individuals who were called before it; not that there was any dishonesty in the proceeding on the part of the Members of the Committee, such a suppo- sition cannot be entertained for a moment; but these gentlemen did not understand the subject fully, and there was only one party present to assist in elucidating it. Few people knew that a Committee on Anatomy was sit- ting, fewer knew its objects. From these observations I think it will appear more reasonable and fair, that on any future Committee, there shall be an equal chance for all parties, and all opinions. The public will be the gainer,