Star. — London, England, 1816-03-23 00:00:00

•.--- en of t h e reports transmitted by the Governors ,IleWest India Colonies to the Government at A . ce 1807, detailing the manner in which the bornefec ' h a d been carried into exec ution, and t, law s laws t h e y had produced on the condition of the ke. ; likewise cop ies of the regulations nsade 7i le local legislature's in regard to the same object. bY e question being put . Upon th lard HOLLAND rose, not to oppose the motion, toe:plain the conduct be• would , eel it hi, duty . hat w hen his Noble Friend 'should i nt r oduce to poesarwsure. lie would not pledge himself to sup . 11' it i t , as ke did not at p resent see its necessity. He !IL w i t h hi s Noble Friend in all the advantages, bad resulted from the great measure of the s o o n, to which he lent his most willing assistance, od deprecat ed any suspicion that it h ad been either s nded ae bad failed to pro duce its prop's fruits. e in j ust ice to the planters and gove.rn lle 0; 4 it , t j a seica to say, that he believed not a bl a bon clandestinely imported into that island. 114 .... The so me might be said of our other possessions, sitbo o be could not make this assertion from s od d information eqoally authentic. He had p e st deal/is of the propriety or necessity of a regis teaupar-- but be would reserve. his opinions, till his ti a bk Friend should give him an opportunity of them, by introducing his Bill. After a short conversation between Lord GREN VILLE, Earl BATHURST, and Lord HOLLAND, the n was agreed to.—Adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMON% Mr Quayle, Deputy Usher of the Black Rod, appeared at e woad required the attendance of the House in that of the p e ers, to bear the Royal Assent to certain Bills. The SPEAKER. on his return, announced the Royal Assent ode Mutiny and Marine Mutiny Bills. unse at was preseuted from the Insolvent Debtors' Court, a mide the gross amount of all the suns contained in the Pe• mss , down down to the sat February last. Ordered to teleinted• IWILACKBURN presented a Petition from Stamford against tie Wheat Debtors Act. A Neer Writ was ordered for Lyme Regis, in the room of L e d gergbenb, who Las accepted the Chiltern Hundreds. Se IL HERON gave notice that on Tuesday sennight hr visti move tor leave to bring in a Vall to amend certain local set tektite to the Regulations for the Poor. us the motion of Mr. SWAN. the .ecoud reading of the Hel toot Election Bill vat fired (Jr Monday se'imight. lteDuuleary H a rbour Bill We Ail read a first time. Mr ./ONE: , ruse to pretest a l'eution irons the Landowners i s eeepan of Wales, praying the repeal of the duty on ag rico,- not lanes. 'flu Hon. Member prefaced his mutton by observ tatre the unequal presst,re of this roe on the agriculturist, as it leftmost hardly on the cultivator of arable land, but we.; by no steam so meteors the owners of p;..sturage He suzgested that k would be ad v isable esetr.pt all forme undcr 4150. year renal; and thuaght all 143: e OUStit to he taxed, whthis the mons possessed horns or nut. He thought the road da:ics might be increased, with the exception of those over which t.,: nail coates panol,wlich otii,a: to be exempt ; but it ought to b e „A m 3 , arse mpeineivie, to aboi , s:i all taxes that could pos sibly be omitted, which pies.cUU on "agriculure. He al'etided to certain preferences which the Scutcu landfaulders enjoyed ovi:r Wised Wales, which he censured as unfair. If there were damn, it ought to be in favour of their southern ucithisours, Wales bad borne the blunt ot the contest, bo:u in pocket and pence, neon a.:Ach as the people of England. lle concluded withremiading the House ut the oprsition made to the F ten Ii 'Paden in 1797 by the Welshmen alone, when they exp-lied eraptered,withoutany assistance, ail who hail dared to pollute Iblit ACM The Petition was ordetcd to lie on the •I'able. POSTPONNXINT (•F THE ESTIMATES. Mr. R. WARD rose to move the postponement of !inconsideration of the remaining Ordnance Esti mates, but spoke in so low :4 tore that it could not be sustained whether the day fixed Was Wednesday or Friday next. Mr. CALCRAFT attributed any alterations that night take place in th.:se Estimates to the iAte ma mty on that side of the House ; when the Estimates ame back he trusted further discussion would be oared, for the Honourable Gentleman would see, the mean time, whether it would not be practicable to reduce the different establishments. If not, the Godemen on his side would be able satisfactorily to re, that considerable reductions could be mad,: &the Ordnance Department.. But it would become heads of the Administration to look: into there mates, and effect the object themselves. After some brief convet s..tion between Mr. Pow ' and Mr. WARD, Mr. PONSONBY said it was not his wish to go step beyond the usages of the House ; but he not refrain from expressing the great satisfac ica be felt at the intimatton he received that reduc iimine intended, because this intention was founded 11 4 c present temper of the House. WARD rose immediately, and declared he fiatot submit to this kind of insinuation, when "Potion was only relative to the postpionanent art a °dee, The Right Honourable Gentleman was P 4 'tettling in his observations, when he was called ccder. The SPEAKER said, that if he was appealed to re iPetnag order, he must say, that when observa• uats were made on a notice, they must naturally ea dtocounter-observations, which could not be re- PLeIY entertained. ,atr•CROKER moved fcr certain Accounts rcla we to the Charter of Greenwich Hospital, and the kfilenientary proceedings o: B:O.—Ordered. C. MONCK asked if the Proclamation of Go at respecting the lonian Islands fiad been re „and when it would be lai A before the House E "!r . ma subject o f extreme i m p or tance. th.CROKER answered, that the gallant Ad -411141 (Rowley) e i t h er did not se nd home the Procla tit% or it had been lost. But he was not quite Intim this Proclamation had not already been laid et the table o f t h e H ouse f rom some o ther quarter, _ "meted with his particular depaa Lomat ; he "!. 1 4, however, i nqu i re i nto th e subject. °et BURRELL said, it was, understood that were several persons holding situations in the 01 Ordnance, whose salaries were regulated as and war salaries. He wished to know whethes lienons holding them were now paid on the toot . of peace or war 1 . 4 . WARD answered that they did not receive war salaries. i tt sir 2. FITZGERALD gave notice of his inten . mw vigg the repeal of the War bialt Duty in 614 ,_, to make i t corres p on d with the reduction 11 ,2!, taken place in England. He added , afte r 7.,_ 141 ef conversation between Mr. Robinson and r Member, that in justice and convenience to 1 7 t maltsterh it might be necessary to remit some i til li :he additional duty for all the stuck •on hand lard kis P ALMERSTON rose to move the p ost. = of the further consideration a the remain ;ng Army Estimat , s. Meanwhile, he shotiQ lay a. written paper nn the t.thle (wimh might be printed by Monday) shewing the number and extent of the reductions intended to be m ide, as it might be more convenient Inr Gemeemen to have this account in their hands, than to wait for it. Mr. TIERNEY wished the Noble Lord would state, witether Ihe had to propose were new re. ductions, or merely the reductions that had •already been explained to the House Lord PALMERSTON replied, that certainly he hoped there would be some reductions, of which the House had not yet been apprised —( Loud cries of hear, %tear). They were, however, such as were thought practicable by Government at the time he opened the Estimates, but which he was not at that time able to state. Mr. TIERNEY said, that all he hoped was, that the Gentlemen opposite would afford time to the House to reconsider the number of men voted. As they had thought it right to alter their plan, the Gen tlemen on his side had a right to alter their's, that the reductiou might be carried nn as far as possible. Real savings to the country could only be made by re ducing the number of men. Lord PALMERSTON wished to explain, that respecting the Staff Establishment, he had previously stated there were certain reductions which might be effected. But he could also now state, that further reductions may be probable, and likewise that the House might be able to look to still farther reduc tions in the course of the year. He could not, how ever, say at present what these reductions could he. Lord NUGENT wished the House to be inioritiKd what was the number of men who had actually been discharged since the peace. It was known that there had beau reductions of many -second battalions, but in most cases, it appeared that the men from these se cond battalions had been traisterred to the first. Mr. PONSONI3Y repeated the sincere satisfac tion he felt at the withdrawing of both these Esti mates. He was glad that Ministers had resolved to amend them, as he would much rather see them car ried through in their hands than on his side of the House, because their knowledge of what re ductions could ue made, rendered them more com petent to effect them. He was therefore displeased at the allusion that had been made to his being dissa tisfied. Sti tar from it, he declated be experienced the greatest satisfaction at what he had heard. Lord PALNIERSTON, in answer to some ques tions from Mr. Calcragt and Mr. Bennett, supposed to relate to enlisting, said there would be no el:listing in future of young men tinder 5 feet 4 inches high. Mr. METHUEN asked whether it was intended to bring imw.ted the Navy Estimates on Monday? . _ Sir G. WARRENDE . II siid, he saw no reason likely to prevent them from being then brought for -mil. Thtre was another nonce for that day, not withstanding which, he certainly me4nt to bring them on. SILVER CURRENCY. GRENFELL s;ished ---- tOk;.ow of the Chan cellor of the Exchequer, whether any plan was in agitation for effecting: a better circulation of silver eban now exists. There was no person whri could not be sensible of the depreciation of shillings and sixpences; for there was nothing like a 'rower shil ling or sixpencet to be seen ; and the innumerable counterfeits made at Birmingham ;Annually, swelled the calendar at tiv Old Bailey ; white the miserable silver imported from France depreciated the currency '2U per cent. by the present course of Exchange. He, and say, on the aut'nority of the late Lord Liver puol, and no better cokild be had, thAt there was no reason whatever why this country should not have a good silver currency, and as silver was now at the Mint price, there could be no difficulty whatever in effecting it. He would even- suggest, that it a suffi cient utnnber of shillings and sixpences could not be produced, there should he no less tuan eighteen penny silver pieces, in order to drive from the coun try tt.e injurious coanterfeits. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said it would be unadvisable, under all circumstances, t present, to withdraw the counterfeit coinage. He hoped some temporary remedy might be adopted, till it was convenient for Government-to interfere ef- fectually. Mr. F. LEWIS thought that any palliative would 0;4 prolong the inconvenience. The only good to be expected was, from having our paper changed for some regular currency, either by going back to the old standard of the value of a guinea, or inventing siane new one. He feared, however, that there would be tri possibility of resuming the old gold standard without some new effort: Mr. TIERNEY presented a Petition from Wor cester for the repeal of the Insolvent Debtors' Act.— Itefei red to the Committee. Mr. TIERNEY wished to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when it was his intention to propose the War Duties ? The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, that. nethitig was necessary but to give notice of the continuance of certain War Duties, with the ex ception of the War Malt Duties ; but when he would give the notice he was not at present prepared to say. Sir JOHN NEWPORT obtained leave to with draw the Irish Landlord and Tenant's Bill, in ordet to prepare another. Mr. PONSONBY wished to ask the Noble Secre tary at War whether it was his intention that the ' consideration of the Army Estimates should be con fines' to the items already produced, or whether he meant to bring under consideration any new reduc tions that had not before been contemplated ? Lord PALMERSTON replied, that he intended to state such reductions as had not yet been consi dered, which it would be for the House to take into their consideration. The American Convention Bill was read a second time, and ordered for a third reading on Monday. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER gave notice, that he should move the third reading of the Bank Advance Bill on Wednesday. Mr. FRE MAN TLE observed, lie bad been given to understand that the Ordnance Estimates had been deletred for the purpose of allowing the Navy Esti mates to be gone through. He wished to know whe ther it was in contemplation to suggest any altera tion with respect to the Civil Branch of the Navy Ex penditure, independent of the vote of seamen, or iii those establishments which are friunded on the war system, and do not appear warrauted? Sir G. WARRENDER answered, that he should have to state on Monday, -the groovy.%on wtich di ferent reductions nsAy be made. T!‘e Hr.sist• niu•' be aware that 93,000 s.arnea were already vi:ted for this year, so that it might be considered, we had not yet arrived at the peace establishment. Respecting the Civil Department, he did not wish to propose a vote of the War Establishment, as it regarded the salaries of the tv4o Secretaries.—(Hea r, _or, hear). —Bet it did not appear that any great redncsi.m in the esta blishment could be made before the end of th , .! year. Mr. METHUEN expressed, on the pa-t of him self and the country, the satisfaction he fe:t at the in formation respecting tile two Seeret.tri4s. Lord NUGENYmoved for a return ofthe number of noa-commissioned Dfficers, Drummers, and Pr i. vales, charged to the land forces since the 9.oth No vember.—Agreed to. RECORDSR 2 E REPORT. Mr. BENNETT wished to know from the N dale Lord opposite, what course was meant to be pursued respecting the Recorder's It.port ? Lord CASTLEREAGH had much satisfaction in stating, that in a very few days, his Royal High ness the Prince Regent expected to be able to come to town. He could assure the House, that his Royal Highness really had no personal knowledge that things were in such a situation, till he heard what had passed in that House, or he would have made an effort to come to town and hold a Council. He could also add, that the Learned Gentleman, the Recorder, WAS not of opinion that a Council on this subject could be held any where out of the county of Middle. sex But in the present case, a delay had arisen which was unavoidable. The Recorder had to con sider the cases of many individuals whom he had not tried, but on all of which he had to make his Re port, and it required a considerable time to collect such information as would put him in a situation to perform this arduous part of his duty. But besides this, in point of fact, there was no instance of a Coun cil of this nature ever having been held out of Mid dlesex, on cases tried in that county ; and the learned person himself had declared, that he should feel great difficulty in ordering execution to be.dene, if the regular custom were departed from in the smallest degree. He could assure the House that the malady of the Prince Regent had been very severe—it was an attack of the gout, which had returned with great severity upon him, and occasioned several cbsapvint ments ; and he wished to apprise the Honourable Members, that the notice taken in that House was the fist intimation his Royal 'Highness had of the circumstance. (Hear, hear, hear.) The House would feel, that as there was a reasonable prospect of the Council being held iu a sly r , time, it would he extremely desirable not to innovate an ancient custom. Mr. ABE RCROMBY said, that what the Noble Lord ha.l stated, was quite in conformity with what was the law of the Land. But the Ministers, and they aloe',, were responsible for v<hat had happened. It he correctly in!ormed, this was not the first time the same difficulty had occurted, and he h , :ped Mi nisters would take it into their serious consideration. The difference between persons convicted in Middle-, sex and elsewhere w4s, that it was held no person ought to Ile executed in Middlesex, where the Royal Power resided, without the opportunity of appealing to its clemency ; and he very well recollected, that when his Majesty resided at Weytn tatli, it was a question whether persons convicted at Dorchester e,,uld he executed. The Prince Regent's residence in Sussex would give' rise to the same question, and also whether it was necesary this practice should be adhered to. Mr. M. A. TAYLOR observed, that what the Noble Lord had said, had relieved him from asking a question tweeting the health of the Prince Regent. Pie was sure, that from his own personal knowledge of that illustrious Personage, that no man ever felt more than he did, at performing the painful duty which was the subject of the present discussion. But, in his humble opinion, no Council on this subject ought ever to be held cut of the county of Middlesex —and as no man could answer for the state of his health, something should be done to prevent the re currence of such circumstance in future. Mr. BROUGHAM did not rise for the purpose of prolonging this discussion, but to express his great satisfaction of what he had heard from the Noble Lord respecting the Prince Regent's health. But be would persist, as he had said before, that it is his Mi nisters who are responsible for all of which the House had to complain ; they were responsible for the omission of not informing his Royal Highness of the circumstance in question, and from this responsi bility nothing could relieve ttfem. The blame rested solely with his Royal Highness's advisers. He did not wish regularly and constitutionally to make the slightest reffection oa the Prince Regeut. Is this Session and the last, for the first time in the history of the country, the House had had a sound and ne cessary branch of the Constitution deviated from, by distinguishing the Royal Personage as an object of the gratitude of that House, in contradistinction to his Ministers. They had heard, on a former occa sion, a notice given of a motion of thanks to his Royal Highness, as if he bad been merely an Officer of the Crown, and this night they had heard some- thing like private thanks to his Royal Highness, all of which he conceived to be a deviation from the strict language of the Constitution. Lord CASTLEREAGH said he trusted Parlia ment would not be put again into the painful situa tion in which they were thrown the other night.— (Rear, heisr.) It was never too late to discover what were the true principles of the Constitution, if they had been deviated from ; but though the Hon. Mem ber had discovered that Ministers had not sufficiently, according to his own ideas, identified themselves with the Sovereign, be seemed not to be aware that all the great merit ought to be attributed to the Se. vereign himself, who had made a nomination and se lection of his Council. Yet on a former night he had attributed to that Illustrious Personage, far more than to his Ministers, a personal odium that never could attach 'to him. (Hear, hear, !seamy— It the Hon. Member intended what be !aid this night to pass for a recantation, he could not but think that he had read his recantation only by halves. Mr. BROUGHAM said, that so far from making any recantation, he was ready to repeat the words al -lude4 to, if their repetition would afford the Noble Lord any satisfactioo. So far indeed was he dispo sed to recant, that be was prepared to maintain, as he had already stated, that the language used by the Noble lard Ina others, *forded the faller jusr;fi ; tion tor In; conduct. Mr. BATHURST expressed his decided d's ppm. bation oft!he conduct of the Letirned Gentlern a• d 'WAS proceeding to anim tdvert upon the I.tnot ire of that Learned C:entlem in on a f diner evening, whe he wa. cal'ed t ) order by Mr. TIERNEY, who corrend-d that it v:aS irre gular to Teter to words spoken in 4 h rouv and that his Le Friend' had made no re....inta. (inn. But he deprecated the reler2r.te i re nor', as e , Ri g h t H , n , G'entllnan was a , iimtivvrtillg upon expressions used in the heat f '.scu in s s . rain rather more likely to eta vertu- than ayanimosity. Here the Al' l'O lt NEY GENERAL rose to or. ' der. conceiving it irregular in any Member to indiage in comments when he called any other Member to • or do r. Mr. METHUEN appealed to the Chair to decide the restioti of of der. (Ahnd fry of Chair ! Gileir I) The SPEAKER said, that when t'ius appiii d to on all sides of the House, as to the point of o r d e r, h e had no hesitation in stating that this conversation ought to go no farther. MISCELLA'ArTR3. Mr. BROUQHAM moved for a return o f t h e warrants issued from the Treasury in cases o: sc , zure, tinder the 54th of the King. ogether with copies of all communications from the Revenue Boat(' to the Treasury during the year 1815. The SPEAKEIk apprised the House, that as Monday next was the last day for pe,enting i-r; va:e Bills, he proposed to take the Chair, it the House should enable him, at half past three Mr. W. smiTH moved for a return of the total number of gallons of spirits distilled in the Lowlands of Scotland, for home consumption, since the year 1818 ; also for an account of the number id extents, in chief and in aid, issued from the Exchequer, ft urn the year 1801 to , the year 1812 inclusive, excepting those issued against parochial Collectors, and Collec tors of the King's Taxes. The Honourable Mem ber then proposed a return also of the names of tie individuals against whom the process was tAkt'll The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER opposed the last :natio)), on the ground that it a twit, be improper to disclose the names of many who had satisfied their debts to the Crown before execiitiiitt of the process. Mr. W. SMITH feared that he co&d nnt i•frect his object wahout the return in q.:eti in. as pur pose.was to shew that these meats were wit, n out at the instance of the parties t!ietn:eives a.r ii tst whom they were ismed, wan a view of recovoit:e, private debts, of which there was no ot:.er in,..ano of pro curing pay ment. Tlii 'CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER explained : Atter tshich the iat:et motion w.to wa:t. sprawn. Mr. GRENFELL moved fer a copy of .t Liter from M. Hdghes, Zia. to the Comrni%iluaers of Board of 'nixes. Mr. LAMB I'ON begged leave to ask the Chin. cellor of vie Exchequer, whether it was the intention of his Majesty's Ministers to 611 up the vacant utli:e of President of toe Board of Control, or to sutler it to expire, as a sinecure which ought to be abolisited The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER replied, that it certainly was intended to tilt uy ►hie office, and he conceived the Honourable Gen•lensan could hardly be serious in supposing for a monseut that such an office could be a sinecure. Mr. WESTERN p►esented a petition from certain persons, inhabitants of the Forest of Hainault, in Essex, praying for further liberty to make enclosures. Mr. HUSKISSON observed, that this was a royal forest containing 50,000 acres, and was certainly ad mirably fitted for the growth of timber, wiiielt wouid be the more valuable from the proximity of the soot to the maritime coast. Mr. LONG WELLESLEY concurred in opinion with his Right Hon. friend, and for his own part was ready to surrender his forestal rights for an Ade quate compensation. The petition was ordered to lie on the table. On the motion of Mr. LOCKHAR . r, the Insol vent Debtors' Bill was ordered to be printed. The Report of the Crown Lands Bill was likewise received, and the Bill ordered to be read a third time on Monday. Adjourned. A half yearly General Court of Proprietors of the Bank of England was held at their House in . I'l,read. needle -street, on Thursday, the 21st instant, when the Governor made the following communication to the Court, viz: That since the Dividend was increased from seven to ten per cent. in the year 1807, the proi s o! the Bank beyond the dividend have been accumul.it;ng ; though the amount of those accumulations 11.15 been greatly overrated. From that period, the Coin t ( If Directors has thought it expedient to retrain trom re cotpmending further participations, reserving (1 1 , 1 •surplus as an additional security for the increased issue of their notes, and to meet any exigencies which might arise in their affairs by a retain to a suit of Peace. • The Court of Directors hopes that at no eery Xi.. tant period, some mode may be devised for Meeting the just expectations of the Proprietors—ln tLr tn.n while, it must be obvious to every retl:cting and un biassed mind, that the present occasion is one, of all others the mots unfavourable fur a change in rate of Dividend. The Court of Directors trusts therefore that whet% it is considered that their's is a common interest with the Proprietors, the recommendation to continue the Dividend at £5 per cent. for the half.year ending the • sth of April next, will be approved by inis Court. The. Governor then proposed th.:t a Dividend should be made of 5 per cent. int. and profits tsar • half-year ending the sth April next ; on which aa- amendment was moved, That tins Court do u w adjourn to Thursday the nth inst. for the puipuse of enabling the Governor and Directors to lay before it an account shewing the surplus pre fits of th s Co:. potation at the 14test period within the la: t year to which it may have been ascertained."-- Which was negatived by a very Urge ijority.— The proposal fur the Dividend of 5 per cent. as then put and carried by a very Large nty ; wi en a paper signed by eleven Proprietors, teas delivered to the Governor demanding a Ballot on the motion of Amendment, winch Ballot was fixed int Tuesday, •• the 26th 'nom% from ten in the morning to tour in the attesnoon. .