Star. — London, England, 1805-06-19 00:00:00

WEST INDIES. KINGSTOII, APRIL 13 —The horfe and foot mi litia in the windward p..rirhes have been on inceffant duty for feveral days. The. co:ill was never better defended, nor at any time preftnted a more hatile front to an invadingenemy than at the prefent moment. FAL/4011TH, APRIL Io.—Since our hit the differ ent detachments of the 55th regiment from the Black Grounds, Savannahla-Mar, Lucia, and Montego Bay, have marched into this town. We have now the whole of that regiment, comprifitig near boo men, which, to appearance and exaEt difci.line, is equal to any in his Majetty's fe.rrice. • Tile defence flips at e judicionfly moored n a line stcrofs the harbour, manned by the voluntary iervices of the Captains and crews of the fhippir.g in port. forming a moil refpeitable battery of frorn 8o to 100 guns. With this force, and the Trelawny regiment of militia, we confider out (elves fully adequate to de feat any attempt of the enemy. We feel it an agreeable duty to announce on this occafion the unfolici:cd offers of fervice from the American Captains in port, in behalf of themfelves and crews, wherever they could be ufeful. We underttand the Captains of merchant (hips at Montego Bay have given in a lil of all the effective feamen who are ready to come forward to terve on the batteries on (bore, or as Captain Ross, of la Props ftigatc, cruizing off that port, may deem molt proper. In addition to the former works at that port, feve ral batteries of heavy artillery are eret9ing, and two furnaces for red hot (hot, in eligible fituations for the proteCtion of the town and (hipping. ST. JACO DF. LA VEGA, MARCH 23.—A general mutter of the militia of this town took place on the race courle on Monday, which, we are happy to oh ferve, was flume/111111y attended ; there :.ave been (e -vent private mutters in the courfe of the week, and all have evinced much alacrity and zeal on this I.c. cation. His Excellency the Commander in Chief has iffued another circular letter to the Commanders of Militia, direaing them to mutter their corps one day in each week until further orders. His Excellency exptas that every one fit for duty will attend, as far as the prefent circumflances of the country will allow, and he hopes loon to relieve them from loch frequent mutters ; which, however, cannot be dilpenfed with at prefent. We undertland it is the intention of Government to have the Abergavenny moored at the head of the harbour, nearly abreaft of Cathie Fort, and to plant a battery of heavy artillery cn her. which may prove of effential fervice thould the enemy have the auda city to make any attempt on this quarter. HAMBURGH AND GOTTENBURGH MAILS. A letter from Gottenburgh, dated the 3d infl. eon. tains the following :—" The German mail of yeller day brought a private letter to Gcttenburgh, Elating the following to be the laconic answer of the King of Prufna to the King of Sweden upon the latter's re turning the Order of the Black Eagle : " recu l'Ordre de I'Aigle N. it donc je vow ai decore, et rcfpere quo cola (nit la dcrniere prcuvc de rotre mud, rie. " FRI - 11111:C GUILLAUME." TRANSLATION: a i Lave received the Order of the rt..ck Foi;le, with which I Lad decorated you, and I hope that this will be the laft proof of your fully. " rat:orarcsviwAst." CADIZ, MAY 10..--Ten (Up of the line ate LOW fitting out here. ITALY, MAY 70.—When JFROITE 11 , NAP•KYD. ar tived at Alexandria, he found titre a letter from the Emperor at Milan, upon which he immediately fet out for Genoa. Mimics OF ma ME MY, JUNE 4.—The l3ilhop of Mentz has received from the Emperor NAPOLEON a geld ling, emichcd with an emerald, with the fol lowing letter : " My Lord Bifhop—l fend yon an epifcopal ring, and wills you to wear it. You will perceive in it, a proof of the fatisfattion I feel at having been able to. reftore peace and unanimity within vonr diocefe. " Given at the Palace of the Thuilleties. (Signed) NA/OLEON." VIIIIII A. Juw a t.—lt is faid that the Emperor, who arrived at Prague on the 3oth of May, will pro ceed to Egra, where it is ciancluded that an interview cm the frontiers between his Imperial MajellY and the Ring of Pruffia is not unlikely.—Nest month, it is faid, the regiments will begin in their gnat lets the new abridged fyflem of exercife laid down for the infantry and cavalry, by General Macs, in conjunc tion with Colonels RADYSKY and WkINZOTTEN, and particularly fuch as will be praCtifed in the manceovres that will take place in the camps of Pettau, Cafhau, Cracau and Summering, in the months of Auguft and September. A lift of the different regiments ordered to the different camps is publithed. Cotarrawramopts, MAY 10.—The F-ench inter preter, M. JouIIERT, has not yet fucceeded in obtain. ing an audience of the Grand Seignior, and therefore has not yet relented the Emperor NA ro4Enh's letter. The fquadron fitted out by the Porte to ciuize in the Mediterranean, is now completely equipped,arated and manned, and this day a divifion confining of two chips of the line, three frigates, four corvettes, and other valets, has failed for the lonian Sea. MAHON, MARCH aa.—The day before yencrday, about 9 o'clock in the evening, advice was received from Curtadella, that an Engl:fh fquadron of 5 sips of the line, 7 frigates, and z brigs, had made its ap pearance on the Coaft, and feerned .o threaten a clef cent ;'the Governor immediately took all the necef fairy meafures for the defence of the Ifland. The troops were in a moment under arms, and fattened to the place where an attack might be expetted.— Yefterday, however, we learned that the Squadron which had occafinned the alarm, had failed away to the Eaftward, and was no longer in fight. The zeal n.anifened by the Garr icon on the occafion, and the patriotic courage difplayed by the inhabitants, fuf ticiently proved, that fhould the Englith make an attempt on this Ifland, they will be vigoroufly re- ELsiwFutt, JUNE 7.—ln the courfe of fall month ( lay) i 617 !hips paired the Sound ; and from the z.; to the sth init. 141. There are now four Englins rmed earls, and above 200 others, lying in our ito,td We here, as in the neighbouring countries, hope for a fpeedy change in the cold and Itormy wea her which fill prevails : we have dailf„rain and hail, are obliged (till to keep fires. P.4RIAMENTARr PRQCEEDINGS.' HOUSE OF LORDS, TUESDAY, JUNE itt. ROUSE PEERAQE. Purfnant to the Order of the Day, their Lord&lps received Into a Committee of Privileges, and Lord WALSINGHAM having taaen the Chair, Counfel and evidence were further heard, re fpetfling the claim of Lady Henry Fitzgerald to the above ba rony; the Duke of Rutiand's defence of his thie to the fame, ate.after which the farther coach:ration of the cafe was deferred till Friday. _ _ The ftrangcrs were then ordered to withdraw; and prayers were read ; but ftrangers remained for fomc time excluded. On our re-entering U. Houle. the Duke of NORFOLK 111311 making lonic obfervations with refpcet to the Salford o,ltuter Sef- Bons Bill, which shortly after was read a third time and paired. The other Bills upor the table were forwarded to that refpee tire Rae. Among theft the &kith and kith Militia Pay and Clothing Bills. the Lottery BilL the Ida Paper nut y,and the Mi litia Adjutants Bills, were read a fecood time, and feverally order ed to be committed. On the diecaSon of the third reading of the Bath Small Debts Bill, a lhon converfation between the Duke of NORFOLK and the LORD CHANCELLOR took place, which applied rather to the gencril fohjedt, of which the particular meafure formed a p3rt, than to the Bill itfch.--The Bill was palled wtthout farther ranarks. ST/TN OP ItILAND. The Order of the Day being read, The Earl of SUFFOLK rote, to bring forward his promifed motion on the above fubjee. He pre faced it by a fpeech of confiderable length, in the courfe of which he expatiated upon the fuperior po. licy and expedience of inquiry on the principle which he was about to recommend; a principle I which was fandioned by the authority and recom• mendation of that great flatefman and philofopher, Lord Chancellor Bacon, and to the want of a pro per attention to which, was in a great degree to be attributed the loft of our late polrellions in North America. He dwelt upon the great importance of Ireland as a component and integral part of the United Kingdom, and its peculiar political impor tance, refulting from its geographical fituation, and the various local advantages poffened by that ifland. This important part tithe United Kingdom, he was warranted by authority in faying, was far from being in a tranquil Rate ; this he could fairly infer from various opinions upon the fubjed, which were given by many noble Lords in the courfe of the late im portant difcuillons on the Catholic queftion, and more efpecially from the Legifiative authority of the two Bills paired in the early part of the feOlon, eaclufively applicable to Ireland ; the one for lid pending the Habeas Corpus A& and the other an thorifing the exercife of Martial Law. Politically ;peaking, therefore, Ireland was not to be regarded as in a tranquil Rate, and with refped to its domef tic and internal confiderations, he trolled he could 'prove it to be, fo far as to lay a ground for his inten ded motion, in a Rate, comparatively, of the moll deplorable mifery. To the prefent unfortunate fitn• ation of Ireland, he obferved, various miles contri buted, and fome of the principal of thefe he fhould endeavour to explain to their LordiniPs• In this view what nruck him as one of the molt prominent, was the confideration of tythes, which, under the gaining regulations, and in the way in which they were col leded in Ireland, were to be regarded as an intolera ble grievance. Their Lordihips would recoiled, that the great body of the peafantry and the lower order of the pe.i)le in that country were of the Roman Ca tholic perlualion, in a proportion of at lean nine tenths ; thefe were liable to the payment of tythe, fo; the maintenance of a church of which they were not members, in addition to what they contributed to the fupport of the clergy of their own communion, and thus had they, the lower and the pourer orders of the people, a peafantry, perhaps the moil dif— trcfred of any in exiftence, to 'pay a double tax.— Let their Lordtlips confider the point, put it to their own feelings, it was what none of them could approve of. In his conclufions on this part of the fobjed, he was borne out by the opinions of the in furgent chiefs. Doullors M'Nevin and Emmett, on their examination, on being qnellioned as to the point, laid the Roman Catholic peafantry of Ireland did not care a farthing about emancipation ; what they withed for was, the abolition of tythes.— He next expatiated on the dilireiled 'fituation of the Irith peafantry, which he defcribed as greatly ag gravated by the prefent tythe fyftem in that country. It was well kn, wn that the principal food of the Irilh pcafants was potatoes. For the ground on which that root was railed the peafant paid very high rent ; four, five, in fame cafes even to ten pounds a-year rent; added to this, the cultivation of the potatoe required a greater proportion of manual labour than ' any other vegetable, and from thofe the tythe was rigidly exaded : a grievance which thole combined confiderations greatly aggravated. His Lordfhip expatiated a great deal on the falutary confequenees, which, he conceived, would.refult to Ireland and to the empire at large, from Catholic emancipation, and feemed to argue, from a variety of proceedings which took place in Ireland, and from the language held out from various quarters, particularly from the year 1793 to the completion of the meafure of Union, that the Catholics were led to imagine, if they were not promifed it in terms, that their conftitu tional emancipation would be one of the earließ re Cults of the Union. That fuch might in that event fafely and beneficially take place, ho Rated, was the opinion and fentiment offome of the moll celebrated natefmen and writers of that nation, who, in gene. ral, inculcated fuch a principle ; fome of thefe were referred to by his Lordfhip, as well as the fine& of the Lord Lieutenant to the Irifh Parliament in 1793, of which the projeted amelioration of the Rate of the 'liar Catholics and peafantry formed a leading feature ; and the addreires from certain Roman Ca. l tholic meetings in the counties of Wexford, Water ford, and Cork, with the anfwer of the then Secreta ry to the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Caillereagh, were, on the Cane princip'e, referred to by his Lorellhip.— He continued to expatiate on the falutary elites, which, he argued, would attend Catholic emancipa tion, and commented on what he thought the injuf tice and opprefflon of continuing the prefent fyftnn with refpee to the Irifh Catholics. He defcribed the wretched and miferable litutaion of the Irifh peafantry as in a great degree owing to thefe odious and im politic reltraints, referring, as he proceeded, to the opinions of various writers upon the fubjee, and on the Rate of Ireland—they were ill clothed, ill fed, and ill lodged ; the luxury of !hoes, Rocking', or meat food, which their country fo abundantly pro duced, was unknown to them—and thefe be con trailed with the fituation of the correfponding claire: of the inbabitaou of South Britain, where a differ. ent fyllem, civil and eccletiaßical, prevailed. He dwelt upon the generous and affeEtionate difpotitions 'of that peafantry ; and, generally (peaking, when left to theinfelves, of their d ,, cility and inoffenfive demeanor. He lamented the late decition of P.:rlia ment on the Cubic& of kith Catholic emancipation, and adverted to the fears which feemed to be enter tained, in a legiflative point of view, of fuch a mea fore as groundlers and abfurd. No ferious injury to either Chu:ch or Rate could ever be apprehended from the introdudion of perhaps fevcn or eight Irith Catholic Commoners into a legiffative affembly of be tween fix and (even hunded protellants ; nor from the circurnaance of eleven or twelve Catholic Peers taking their feats among their Lordfhips. Betides, in that point of view, fome degree of rettridiort may be well interpofed ; for inßance, thofe who changed their religion from the Proteftant to the Catholic, fhuuld not be allowed to Gt in Parliament. He only threw this out as a general idea. He was a lliong advocate for the principles of toleration ; genuine Chriftianity went not to ordain religious eftablifti mcnts in a Rate; and he panegyrifed the tyftem adopted in America with refped to religion, where every denomination of Chriftians was equal in the eye of the law, and alike eligible to the admit-in:7a ing government ; neither were the Trill Catholics fo well treated as tbcir fellow fubjeds of the fame per (nation, in other parts of his Majetly's dominions. He adverted particularly to thole of Canada, who, ' forming a great majority of the inhabitants of that part of the Empire, had their religion eftablifhed in their favour; and why, he would elk, was the Coro nation Oath of the Sovereign to be held binding, with refpeft to the Catholics of Ireland, and not (offered to 'aired thofe of Canada f On the bene ficial effeds, either in a view of internal or external policy, of the fyttem adopted with refped to Ca nada, he dwelt Shortly ; and referred to the au thority of certain writers on that fubjed, which, he argued, bore him out in his conclufion. Another coafideration, which, he Paid, contributed to the mi ferable fituation of the frith peafantry, to which the prefent unfortunate Rate of that country was Co greatly owing, was the extremely low price of la bour. This, he obferved, was, in many parts of Ireland, not more than five-pence per day ; though the rents paid for land, were, upon the whole, as high, or rather higher, than thofe paid in England; and one of the leading expedients which he would recdm mend to ameliorate the condition of the poor in that country, would be, to raife the prices of labour.— With their prefent wages, it was ationithing how they could protraft exikence ; to many parts of the province of Munfter, he underftood thefe ()brava tions would particularly apply. Another leading confideration, and which greatly contributed to the prefent Rate cf Ireland, and the difireffed condition of the poor, was the fyftem in general adopted by abfeutee landlords, and which, in Come points of view, though they flintily let their castes at lower rents than others, in the firs inftance, opetated as a great grievance ; what he principally adverted to was, their pradice of letting their lands to what were called " middle men," who ufually let them out again to the occupying tenant at exorbitant rents. This fytiem was equally injurious to the head land lord, and the perfon who tilled the ground. By ab fentees he did not mean thole Noble Lords who at tended their duty in that Houfe, but great landed proprietors, who rarely, if ever, !net! Ireland; and he inftanced force cafes where, by the adoption of a different plan, the occupier of the ground was confi derably benefited in his fituation, and the raps of the head landlord at the fame time greatly iacreafed; and he alto adverted to fome 'proceedings known to him felf, which, he contended, evinced the neceffity, with a 'reference to the amelioration of the Rate of Ireland, of fome alterations in that part of the fyflem. All ' thefe colViderations combined, indeed, and the noto rious internal Situation of Ireland called for it, Mewed the nece&Y bf an inquiry into the real Rate of th'it valuable and important part of the United Kingdom, in order that Government and the Legiflature may, as far as pradicable, atcertain what Reps were proper and neceffary to be taken for amelibrating the condi tion of its inhabitants, and the Security of that part of the empire. A great majority of the people in that country Were, he contended, obvioullf diffatisfied with their prefent condition, and, lie feared, that the large armed force, which it was found netettary to main tain in Ireland, was not fo much for the purpofe of repelling invalion, as to fupprefs intimation. With a view to obviate everything unfavourable that might be apprehended, and to lay the ground work of the beneficial tefults to which he had alluded, he Would move their Lordllips, cs That an humble Addrefs be prefented to his Majefty, praying that he would be gracioully pleated to appoint Commiffloners to in quire into the prefent Rate of that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, and to order that the (aid CommiSfioners do report the Rate of each county ; and that the fame be laid before tlis Malay and the two Houfes of Parliament." • • On the queflion being being put ; The Earl of LIMERICK role, and obferved that as an Irilhman, he mutt decidedly oppofe the motion of the Noble Earl, as likely to produce great mifchiefs. Indeed, 'for a long time, he fhould not have fuppofed the Noble Earl to have been (peaking of Ireland, till, by further attention, and the frequent repetition cif the word, he found the Noble Earl meant to apply his obfervations to that part of the United Kingdom► In the prefent inßance, he affured their Lordfhips he would intrude upon their patience but a very Mork time ; and, firit, he would obferve, that one of the leading propotitions of the Noble Earl, as he under- Rood its application, would go to deprive the Pro tenant Eflablifired Church of Ireland of its means of fupport : he alluded to the dedruainn of tythes.— Were there Lordfhips prepared to accede to any pro pofition that would tend to that ? With regard to the Noble Earl's defcription of the (late of Ireland ; with refpea to the condition of its peafan try, the low prices of labour, he mull have made his cal culations upon what was the Rate of thole things a great many years fusee. He had, from the con fideration, whether fortunate or unfortunate, he could not fay, of living a great many years in Ire land, much perfonal apd local knowledge in thefe refpeas. He could Co (sr controvert his tiatements. And, with tefped to what may be matters of opi nion, his coneluflons were formed from Authorities, very different from chafe referred to by the Noble Earl. He knew fuU well, and was free to confefs, that the fltuation of Ireland, in many of the parts adverted to, was by no means fo favourable os 11 . of this country; nor would they bear a comparii;.,, but for this he would contend, that Ireland had bee r ; for many years back, and Ilia continued in .r fete ,i progrefive improvement and arneliorationord lr there was every reafon to tape& would increa::2 ev e') day:• to adopt the meafure recommended by c o . Noble Earl, therefore, efpecially when the fituatio t of that country, menaced by invation, and the Em. pire at large embarked in an arduous and extensive warfare, was confidered, would be impolitic and dec. gerous is the highest degree. Hi; Lordthip d on fhortly adverted to the general nature of the Noble Earl's addrefs to the Houfe, a great part of which applied to the queftion of Catholic Emancipation ; fobjett which had to recently, fo fully, and fo perately been canvalred in that Houle, and folemnly decided upon by their Lordthips. On that part of the Noble Earl's fpeech, he thould not, therefore, offer a tingle obfervation. He then adverted to few of the Noble Earl's obfervations relpetting abfentee landlords, and particularly to a circum. ftauce introduced into that part of his fpeeck, which, it teemed admitted a very. different inference from that drawn by the Noble Earl. He aeologifed to their Lordatipa for this Ilion occupation of their time ; for his part he felt it decidedly his duty to op. pole the Motion. The LORD CHANCELLOR was about to put the question ; when The Duke of NORFOLK role, and begged leave to offer a few obfcrvations on the fubje6t. With yelped to thole mifchievous effeds, which the Noble Earl, who had ha (puke, teemed to apprehend, in cafe the motion was agreed to, he confefFed no Each apprehenfions prefented themfelves to his mind. —With refried to the important fubjeft of tythes, his Grace obferved, that finding the law in that re. fpe6t coeval in this country, with the laws for the conservation of every other kind of property, he confidered there as entitled to equal regard. They were the property of the church, to be refpeded as fuch, and involved confiderations affeding the union of church and Rate, which, he Milled, would al ways continue to fuppert each other. With rcfpeft to what had been fail as a: ifing from the topic of Catholic emancipation, he fully agreed that that important fubje& had been fairly, fully, and coolly difcuffed by the Route, and though he formed one of a comparatively fmell minority, who thought it was proper their Lordfizips thould go into a committee on that fubjed, yet, he holed to the decifion of the majority of their Lordfhips, and praftically mull confider fuch decifion as rightly made. Yet he teem ed to think that, from thofe difeufflons, matter tranf pired, which tended to thew the expediency of fuch an enquiry as his Noble Friend propofed. 4n fome points of view, he difapproved of partial quotations from authors ; they required a great portion of the context, in order fully to ofcertain the fenfe of the writer ; and one particularly, whom his Noble Friend bad more than once (motet' that evening, corielly, no doubt, one with whom be had the happinefs and the honour to be long acquainted, the late Archdea con Paley, went on to fay, (peaking of the fubjea of tythes, 'that which, in his mind, operated in a dif ferent way from what his Noble Friend feemed to underfland it. Adverting to the hate of the Oa bathed religion in Ireland, he obfersced o there mill- . ed, fotne years ago, that which should induce him to think the fuperior clergy of that country highly re- Prehentible. He alluded to the circumftences of many perifhes of conf k derable extent, and which paid all the clerical dues, being not only without a cler gyman, but even without a church. He thought the molt favourable epoch for redreffing many of the grievances adverted to by his Noble Friend, as af fe&ing Ireland, was the oceafion of the adjustment in rags, when Irelaud was relieved from the com mercial fetters of this country. A peculiarly favour able opportuuity was then prefented. With refped to the queftion before the Houfe, he thought it was one that demanded an opinion from fome of his Ma jelly's Minifters. Lord HAWKESBURY obferved, the motion under confideration was one which he fhould feel it his duty to refill, were it only upon the ground of its being'very ill timed: it alto involved confiderationo which, under the prefent circumilances and lituation not only of Ireland, but of the Empire at large, would induce him to °hie& to it. With a Noble Earl, he thought it would be produftive at pre fent of mifchievous effeas. With' him, he thought that a great deal of the Noble Mover's fpeech was applicable to the qiiellion of Catholic Emancipation; which, with the Noble Duke, he thought had been moll fully, fairly, and temperately confidered in that Houfe, as much fo as any topic that ever came be fore Parliament ; and that being folemnly decided upon, by a very large majority, not only of that, but of the other branch of the legiflature ; he felt it un neceffary to offer a tingle oblervation upon all the re levant part of the M.ble Earl's fpeech. With refeeft to. the important confideration of tythes, on which the Noble Secretary, in the courfe of his °bitty*. tions.- laid confiderable arefs ; he molt cordiily agreed with the maim of the Noble Duke, that they cunßituted property, and that of the molt facred kind. Indeed, the Gentlemen alluded to by the No ble Earl, Meals. Emmett and M'Nevin, when they were examined on Coe part of the government of Ire land, teemed to have given their evidence very ie4- nuoufly upon that fulejed ; they, after giving their opinions as to the st ilhes of the Irith peafantry, for the abolition of tythes, went on to admit, that were thole abolithed, the rents would be immediately railed by the landlords, in a proportionate d•gree, fo that the relevant fituation of the peafantry would, fo far, remain the fame. In fad, to abola the tythes, would be to rob the clergy ; they were their proper ty, and, in the eye of the law, equally facred with every other defcriptian of property. The benefits of them were, in fad, equally experienced, and enjoyed by the land owners, as it was obvious that thefe, from the con fi deration of their lands being liable to tythe, purchafed them proportionably at a lefs rate ; and this was a confideration, independent of the political and religions.points of view in which the 113 . 0 mar be confidered. which thould place them, equally with every other fpecies of property, under the protedion Qf the laws, and filch, be trolled, they would for ever remain. In concluding, his Lordfhip alluded to she very advanced period of the Seffion, and the confequence of their attendance as highly improper for the confideration of a fubjed of a nature equally General and important, and which branched out into