Star. — London, England, 1818-02-19 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDING& HOUSE OF LORDS, FEBRUARY is. • • Owned were board in continuation respecting the Appeal Cause " bud Rancliffe v. Parkyns," Pain's, u s ao. coed Counsel for the Appellant, and Sir ataililtl, Rot atm, as leading Counsel for the Respondent. Further hearing on Friday. •• The Royal Assent was given by Commission to the Irisk Grand Jury Presentments Suspension Rill. The Lords Cotnntluioners were, the Low ClLUlcamos, the Marquis of Caotsionnexer, and t he Earl of Suareasanar. - Mr. llrmumsou, from the Bank of England, presented at the Bar, an Account of the number and amount of Notes, Bills of Exchange, Promissory Notes, &c. issued, and In circulation at, different periods, as well as the quantities of Bullion bought, for the last three years, pursuant to an order of the House. Several of these documents were, on the motion of the Earl of LacttILDALZ, ordered to be printed. The Thirty Millions Exchequer Bills, and the Malt and Pen sion Duty Bills, were severally read the second time. Adjourned till to-morrow, when their Lordships stand sum• moned on the Earl of Caaaraavon's Motion, relative to DIVAS* mond's Petition. HOUSE OF COMMONS. The Spears, attended by several Members, went to the House of Peers, to hear the Royal Assent given by Conunissioo to several Bills (for which see the Peers' Report). A Petition from certain Inhabitants of Gloucester was pre- sented in favour of the Chimney Sweepers' Bill.—Read, and ordered to lie on the table. Mr. SHAW, of Dublin, postponed his Minion on the Irish Window Light Act till the 14th of April, in consequence of the absence of Irish Members. Mr. Jones presented an account of Fees taken in the Crown Office for the last year for Informations. Leave was given to bring in a Bill to exempt from Duty Coals and Clam on the river Severn, carried coastwise. Leave, was also given for the Liverpool Gas Light Bill. Mr. LUSHINGTON moved for the usual Annual Accounts of the Net Prodeee of the Revenue of Great Britain and Ireland. Also Accounts of the Total Produce of Customs and Excise for lel7.—Agreed to. The Papers were then brought up, present ed, and ordered to be printed. Leave was given to bring in a Dill to continue the Duties on Madder. The Committees of Supply and Ways and Means were post poned till Friday. The Offices Annual Indemnity Bill was read a second time, and committed. CITY PRISONS. Mr. Alderman WOOD said, in moving for a Com mittee, it was not his intention to trespass on the House with unnecessary arguments. Much had been said of the abuses that prevailed in the Prisons of the Metropolis ; but he believed a full investigation would establish the conclusion, that where evils ex isted, as he was willing to admit some did exist, they were not to be attributed to any oblivion of duty on the part of the Magistrates. There were many things that required alteration. Great abuse arose from the number of convicts that were kept in these pri • sons. But when he stated that evil, it was a duty he owed to the Noble Lord at the Head of the Home Department, to state, that he had done every thing to remove these convicts as rapidly as circumstances per nkted. Bat to attach reproach to the Magis trates of London, he believed the investigation would prove, was unfounded. His Honourable Friend (Mr. Bennet), and who could feel disinclined to testify to his meritorious exertions in alleviating the miseries of the wretched and the destiti te! had, however, given the Magistracy a severe lecture, though k would be found that the evils for which the Magistracy were blamed, were imputable to the want of room in the prisons. Besides, later customs had operated to fill the prisons prematurely. Formerly, in Middlesex, as it was now in London, prisoners were not removed to Newgate until the Thursday immediately pre ceding the Sessions. The numbers now from Mid dlesex committed on the final examination, were, as to the London Commitments, in a proportion of seven to one. Before he concluded, he wished to advert to one circumstance, which he sincerely hoped would attract the attention of the Committee. It was the casualties that occurred at sea in convict ships, where, from the season at which these people were em. barked, for instance, in the midst of winter, then sud denly exposed to the violent transition of heat under the Line, and then again to extreme cold in the. high southern latitudes, mortality must be prevalent. It was so much so, that in 1814, out of 200 convicts embarked, 50 had died before the vessel reached % New South Wales. He should only say, that if any delay occurred in carrying the wishes of the Magis tracy of London into effect, in regard to those pri sons, it arose from circumstances over which they had no controul. He moved then for a Select Committee. Mr. BENNET observed, that it was not his intea. tion to offer any opposition to the present motion, but as allusion had been made by his Honourable Friend, who was so strong an eulogist of the conduct of the Magistracy of which he was himself a Member, to a Publication of his, he was anxious to make some re marks on what had fallen from his Honourable Friend. It was trite that the London Prisons were rendered more grievous to the unhappy persons con, fined in them from want of room. Young and old were huddled together in indiscriminate and crowded masses, to the extent of making these prisons not schools of reform and instruction, but schools of crime and depravity. But want of room was not the only defect, there was also a want of clothing and of food --(hear, hear). He bad himself seen an infant, with out shirt, shoes, or stockings, and on inquiry he had ascertained the same miserable spectacle had been witnessed by the Visiting Committee. It was with no view to self-applause, that he was compelled to say, that he had himself given the necessary clothing to this unfortunate infant—(hear, hear). Want of food was also experienced by the prisoners. It was impossible to look at a collective body of the con fined, without being able at once to discern the longer imprisoned from those more recently committed. The squalor careens was visible amongst the older prisoners. The scantiness of food was the cause; in deed those who were there for any time appeared in a starving condition. There was one observation which he wished the House would bear in its mad-, lectior.. It was this—athat whatever improvements the Committee proposed might find on their inspec tion of the prisons, was to be attributed to the expo sure made in that House. Since that moment, all was solicitude, ocalpation and haste on the part of the London Magistracy to correct abuses. Dilapida ttons of years congnuance were now repairing—the walls of the jails were now white-washing—even the baker had been chinged within the last four dais-- (hear). In their anxiety for sudden improvement, even the Sunday wis not held sacred. The House would, therefore, recollect, that if the prisons of Lon don presented all these improvements to the COM. mittee, they would be seen in their Court dress— (hear, hear). To the inotivg he bad no objection, in the hope that the prisons of London would no longer be discreditable to its wealth and character, and that in place of being schools for the propagation of every species of crime, they will be made schools for the moral reformation of the miserable, the vicious and the neglected. • Sir WILLIAM CURTIS considered all the state ments of the Honourable Member exaggerated, or that if the facts were true, they did not bear him out in the way he had put them. What did he want? Were not prisons places for punishment, not for com fort? The food he denied to be bad. The bread he bad often tasted, and it was as good as any Gentle man would use in his own family, or was used by his Majesty's troops. There was a sufficiency of meat. A'hat, was not four pounds of meat a day enough for one person—(A laugh)?—He meant four pounds a week. Did the Honourable Member want to have the prisons furnished with Turkey carpets? Men, it was to be recollected, were sent to prison for their crimes. The windows of the New Prison were broken wantonly, and those who broke them were told, that either they must mend them at their own expense or suffer. As to the white-washing, of which the Honourable Member spoke, he knew no thing about. Mr. BENNET, in explanation said, that on Fri day last he visited Newgate, and saw with his own eyes the preparation making for the inquiry. If the worthy Baronet (Curtis) had done his duty he would have seen them also, and not been in ignorance of, the fact of the white washing. He had also tasted I the bread frequently, and found it heavy and sour. The reason given was, that it was baked on tin. Mr. WARRE observed, that as one of a former Committee he had visited the Borough Compter, and found more bricklayers and carpenters than prisoners the day he went. The Committee were, however, too alert for the Magistrates, and were fully impres sed with the motives for that sudden exertion of im provement. He then adverted to the case of John Bundy, who had died in Tothil-fields, and whose death the Coroner's Inquest, after mature delibera tion, had recorded as having arisen from the want of food and medical aid. The turnkey of the prison had on that occasion given most equivocal testimony, and he would wish to know whether or not such a man was continued in his employment ? The Motion for the Committee was then carried. ~1 ow De to Pe' tra pr( Be - his of i the fou . bla • pri the • 2S I to c ee die to to , to( att cas fro bag det the sou v.-a , . em del trai son no / tioi as: wh , Ma Pul ma Fri , ren Btu wei ma scb an del --I out asc wii no say to foe im 1 fin im , ' I Tl: pri de a wl le( th , tic r. su v... 1 . . th I I. tic vc . las , I (hi ev ( sv; de sl l an (hi . , • . .. . , ~, CLIMBING BOYS. A Petition was presented from certain inhabitants of Gloucester, praying . for the abolition of the pre sent practice of sweeping chimnies by means of climbing boys. It was read, and ordered to lie on the table. Lord MILTON presented a similar Petition from certain inhabitants of the City of York. His Lord ship observed, that it was not his intention to offer any remarks on the nature of the Bill on the subject of Climbing Boys, which had been brought in by his Honourable Friend (Mr. Bennet). Ile thought it was one which did that Honourable Gentleman much credit, and he wished it success ; but he could not I avoid expressing his opinion, that his Honourable Friend was proceeding too hastily. There were, it was known, many chimneys which could only be swept by climbing boys, and which would be ren dered useless if the present Bill was passed. Under these considerations, he thought it would be better , for the House to adopt a middle course, and without Imaking such a general enactment at once, to give particular encouragement to those persons who swept chimneys by means of machinery. If this were done, l and a heavy tax laid upon the employment of climb ing boys, he thought it would, in the course of time, I have the effect of abolishing the practice altogether., Mr. BENNET said, that the number of Petitions which had been presented to the House was a proof that the present practice was very generally admit ted to be an evil which ought to be got rid of as soon as possible. It was with that view he had brought in his Bill, and now an objection was started, that there was a number of chimneys too small to be swept in any other manner than by the use of climb ing boys. It was true there were a great many chim neys of that description, but to whom did they be long ? They belonged to those who could well af ford to alter them if they pleased. But it was in that very description of chimneys the greatest danger to the lives of the climbing boys existed. There were not less than five children lost their lives by such means, in the course of the last year. Nor was this to be wondered at, when it was known, that in some houses recently built, the chimneys were only seven inches square, and that the children employed to sweep them could not be more than four or five years old. Yet with such things admitted, was it to be said that the House was proceeding in a hurry? In a hurry to do what? To save the lives of those poor little creatures who were constantly exposed to death, and that too of the most terrible nature— ( Hear ) But it could not be said that he wished to proceed in a hurry if he proposed to make 'the Bill operative in 1819, in order that time might be given to all the parties who were likely to be affected by it, to make those alterations which the new mode of sweeping chimneys would require. He could not agree in what had fallen from the Noble Lord (Milton), it would have the effect of sacrificing the children of the poor in order to preserve the chimneys of the rich, a thing so monstrous in itself that he was cer tain no man would let it dwell in his thoughts for a single moment. Lord MILTON, in explanation, said, that he did not by any•means object to the Bill per 4e, but he objected to it as in some measure calculated to frus trate the puTose for which it was framed. Mr. LITMETON was sure that every body who knew his Noble Friend would give him credit for the greatest humanity. He differed from him, however, totally on this subject. and thought that every me a ns should be adopted to make the Bill so effective, that in no case henceforth should it bessible to employ a single child in this dreadful emplo po yment. The Petition was then ordered to lie on the table. GANZ LAWS. Mr. G BANKES, in the motion which he was about to make, expected the support, not of those Members alone who were anxious to protect the Game of the country, but of those also who were solicitous to diminish the number of offences connect ed with the unlawful destruction of Game. Most of these offences would be got rid of, if the Legislature could effectually prevent the buying and selling of Game ; for it seldom happened that poachers killed Game for sustenance, or for the mere gratification of their own.tastes. As the law stood at present, all persons, qualified and unqualified, were forbidden to sell Game. Unqualified persons were also virtually forbidden to purchase Game, but there was no such restriction on qualified persons. His wish was to put all persons on the same footing in this respect; and by the Bill, for which he was about to move, to enact that all persons, qualified or not, should be liable to the same penalties for buying Game as those inflicted by the existing law on unqualified persons so pur chasing it. The Honourable Gentleman then moved for leave to bring in a Bill for the further prevention of the offences connected with the unlawful destruc tion and sale of Game. Mr. CURWEN thought the proposition of the Honourable Gentleman quite inadequate to the at tamment of the object in view. It would only go to make the Game Laws still more odious than they were. He was by no means one of those who thought this not a fit subject for legislation. On the contrary, he was fully impressed with the advantages of in creasing the inducements to Gentlemen to reside in the country, by protecting she game for their amuse ment. But while the present oppressive and unjust code of laws existed on the subject, it was in vain to think of putting an end to the crimes which they generated. At present the right of Game was con fined to landed proprietors. Now it was well known that in this country the proportion which commercial property bore to landed property, was as 7to 1. He could see no objection to making Game private pro- perty, up to a certain extent, and to doing away all qua lifications not founded on property. Severe penalties; were never productive of the effect intended by them. While the plundering of a farmer's field of turnips and such articles was felony by law, the practice was Etel, as the punishment was toe severe to he in tec7; but as soon as it was reduced to a moderate fine, the practice entirely ceased. Ile strongly re commended the Honourable Gentleman not to con tent himself with so inefficient a proposition as that which he had just made, but to go to the root of the evil, and endeavour to reform the whole system of the Game Laws. As to making the purchase of game penal, the only consequence would be, that the smaller culprits would be punished, while those of more importance would escape. For instance, such an individual as the Lord Mayor of London must have game: he would not purchase it himself, bat others would purchase it for him and this would take place, whatever Statutes the Legislature might think proper to enact. Mr. WARRE was surprised that his llonourable Friend could imagine that in the present state, tem per, and constitution of society, any legislative mea sure could effectually prevent the sale of game. But two years ago, an Honourable Member brought in a Bill on this subject, the enactments of which were so severe, that it was deemed expedient to repeal it last Session. The Honourable Member who had just sat down had given his Honourable Friend good , counsel, although it would be no easy task to set about reforming the whole system of . the Game Laws. On this subject he had that morning met with a pas sage in Mr. Justice Blackstone, which he would read to the House. It was as follows :--" Though the Forest Laws are now mitigated, and by degrees grown entirely obsolete, yet from this root has sprung a bastard slip, known by the name of the Game Laws, now arrived to, and wantoning in, its highest vigour: both founded upon the same unreasonable notions of permanent property in wild creatures, and both pro ductive of the same tranniy to the commons—but with this difference, that the Forest Laws estabsbed only one mightylllinfer thrift' . ghout the land ; the Game Laws have raised a little IsTunrcid in every manor.' Mr. G. BANICES explained, and professed himself wholly incompetent to execute the task which the Honourable Member for Carlisle wished him to un dertake. All he desired was to make the Game Laws something better if 'he could. The omission which the proposed Bill tended to supply appeared to him to be a casual one, and easily to be remedied. Sir C. BURRELL thought the Bill proposed by the Honourable Gentleman would be beneficial, by putting the rich and the poor on an equal footing. It had been most justly said by Mr. Fox, that with Out a violation of the laws of property, he could not see how the Game Laws could be much altered at present. After a few words in explanation from Mr. WA aft; a division was called for, when there appeared, for. the motion 60—against it 28—Majority 32. NORTHERN ASSIZES. On the motion of Mr. M. A. TAYLOR, who obser ved that the subject had been too thoroughly discus sed yesterday to render it necessary for him to say any thing further upon it, a Select Committee was appointed to consider whether any, and what steps were necessary to be taken, to give to the Counties of Cumberland, Westmorland, Northumberland and Durham, and the county and town of Newcastle upon-Tyne, the same advantage of Assizes (twice a year) as was now possessed by all the other counties in England and Wales. CIIIMNF:Y-SWEEPERS. On the motion of Mr. BENNET, the House went into the further consideration of the Chimney-swee pers' Regulation Bill, which was recommitted, and several amendments (one of them extending the pro- visions of the Bill to Ireland) were introduced. The Report was ordered to be received to-murrow. LOTTERY, Mr. LYTTLEION begged to withdraw the no tice which he had given of Resolutions respecting the Lottery. He should wait to see whether or not the Right Honourable the Chancellor of the Exchequer would introduce the Lottery as one of the articles of his Budget, and if the Right Honourable Gentleman should do so, he would then propose his Resolutions. ELECTION LAWS. On the Motion of Mr. WYNN, the House took into further consideration the Report of the Election Laws Bill. Mr. WYNN moved the re-commitment of the Bill. A conversation of some length took place on the clause enacting that the poll should close ut.less 100 were polled by the evening of the second day. Mr. WILBERFORCE supported the clause. Mr. MARRYATT opposed the clause. Mr. LAMB thought this clause would be produc tive of great inconvenience, and suggested the post ponement of this obi c ionable part of the Bill to another Parliament. Sir WILLIAM BURROUGHS was also of opi nion, that the clause would tend to disfranchise many of the non-resident voters, and put candidates to an erpense frequently unnecessary, in b r i nz i l . friends to the poll on the first o r second dd..% ° Lord MILTON also maintained the exi,;,ii e . the clause, and observed, that all persc a , , • connected with County Elections, were t 7, (i debted to his Honourable Frie n d for .rr* , •• • expense of contested elections. Mr. J. SNIITII thought the Bill calculated tO the Elections into the hands of the Returning() Mr. \V YNNE defended the clause; re try against leaving every county and city ezpoi t .,i, great evil of having the poll kept ope n days, by candidates who perhaps had oz:, votes every day to tender; and instanced Ek Devonshire, at Bristol, and in Berkshire, ip this evil had occurred, although nut to which he had sßecified.. Mr. LUSHI&GTON thought the pol number of votes would be sufficient t;n- required. Mr. BROUGHAM, although gcneralir the Bill, considand it not without its incr.r. It was no time to shew the country the M that House wished to take any of the pense from off their own shoulders those of their own constituents. The reizist by assessments under the Land Tax Iv. incomplete, and might in some instance, a disfranchisement of voters in cases wh er .. Tax had been redeemed. Mr. G. BANKES deprecated the p so important without du - e General THORNTON hoped the withdrawn by the Honourable Metr.h.-. The SPEAKER begged the lic.• that as the business now stood they into the consideration of the propriety the clause altogether, or ever :thenc . : to be polled on each day, that havt.:i: decided upon. Such a motion might ti •a future stage of the Bill, but not is the Sir W. BURROUGHS said he sh, duty imposed on him, under the Circ. mo►e the House be counted. Dr. PHILLIMORE denounced s•:ch as very unbecoming on the part of ;1% and Learned Gentleman. The Bill been amply discussed. . Mr. WYNN consented to the PZ mitred to-morrow, and real the t 1 day—and to-morrow she rill prop( clause empowering the Ito ::nin,r the poll during " Riots or 1) 1 .-:11 Outrageous Riots or lh.tu-ba. creating interruption in the Poll, - tuted fcr the words " Riots or Di ;•,1 Mr. HART DAVIS apprn‘td n hoped its application would i•a•.•:: a s regulating elections. The cause objected to was then • the Bill ordered to be taken into rec morrow. The other Orders of the Day v cre the House adjourned. AMERICAN CONGREc HOUSE OF PEPRE.SYNT On the 7th of January, Mr. W ., Carolina, complained to the fleu..; bribe him, by Colonel JOHN ANDER port of some claims of the Colonel, iteration of a Committee of the Hu the table a letter which he had receiv lonel, with a statement of the panic occurred at asubsequenthtil.tvitnv. which was addressed - to him as a 3I( Commi t:e referred to, says—. Mr. I you some claims from the river Raisin. Nil pass through your Honourable CommitN have a wish that the conduct of the Briti-h country may be related in full on The +xi: gress, which will give you some trouble in out the report, and supporting the same. I to request that you will accept of the ma: 500 dollars as part pay for extra trouble I will present to you so soon as I receive ,orne: vernment. This is conidentral, that you. c and myself may know any thing about :: other words, I give it to you•as a ma: Mason, and I hope you belong to that seci Mr. WILLIANts's written statement relates letter was delivered by Colonel Anderson in that he (Mr. Williams) immediately called i Wilson, and gave him the letter to read, tt.. lonel Anderson that he repelled. wits Indic . contempt, the offer made ; that Culorel begged him not to sliew the letter ; that reign from his intention to offer the trone:....: thsit - he repeatedly asked Mr. Williams', as repeatedly ordered him to quit the to lone. did su at length, with great re: , sent for Mr. Wilson, whom he requeste,i to put a stop to ell proceeding soli the it was a statement delivered in by - Mr. Wi'c ing the preceding account of this trans..: 31r.Fontsyrn moved that the Speak:: mediately issue his warrant, for taking derson into custody. General HARlitiON and Colonel Jonssl praised the conduct of the Colonel in tlle 1 which he had been a considerable grated that he should have actcl in manner just stated to the house. . . Mr. F - oresyth's motion was carried unarii. On the Bth of January, Colonel .1: dery been reported in custody, Mr. toersyrit moved to refer his ca.se : mittee of privileges. The motion was or, number of Members, on the ground of !t , tutionality : it was, however, at length a Committee appointed, pursuant to an report, from which, Colonel Anderson " the Bar, and apprized of the charge requested the assistance of Counsel, which : agreed to, and he was remanded. - On the 9th, Mr. SIENCER submitted to a series of Resolutions, importing, that I doubting its competency to punish the should be proceeded against by ti.e ral, and that the Committee of Judicia:-._ instructed to inquire into the expediency . by law for the punishment of any contempt • of the privileges of either House of Congres proceeding gave rise to discussion, wiliCh I. vcral days. Ou the 10th the Speaker re..