A member of the senate or house of representatives, or an officer of either branch of the general assembly, shall be privileged from answering to a suit instituted against him in a county other than the one in which he resides upon a cause of action which accrued ten days before the first day of a session of the general assembly of which he is an officer or a member. All proceedings in actions to which such a person is a party shall be stayed during such session, and the time necessarily employed in going thereto and returning therefrom.