Star. — London, England, 1819-12-23 00:00:00

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PABN ELL gave notice, that be wield, after Chriee -11116, move similar Resolutions to those submitted by Alm lam Session for Retrenchment in our Expenditure. ' ' The same Honourable Mather gave troth*, that 4. would to-morrow (this day) move for Accounts of the Expenditure in the Civil and Military Departments. Mr. LYTTLETONpostned his notice of Motion for leave to bring in a Bill to prohibit unskilful perisiilfrein acting as Conveyancers, until tirmorrow. Dr. PHILLIMORE obtained leave to bag a Bill to amend the Marriage Act. The Bill was sienlier to that which had been agreed to in the fast Session, and vehnii being there- Mined to the Lordi, wits there unfortunately delayed to the end of the Session. ID the interval Meet that time, many atrocieets and distressing fasteners of salty bed taken.plase to knew. ledge, which would bane been prevented bad the #il pawed into a law. Leave was then giveo, and in a sheet time afteterards, the Bill was brought in. It was read the first time, and ordered to be read the second time on Friday, the 18th of February. It was likewise ordered to be printed. Colonel WOOD moved for a Return of the number of Va grants confined in the different Prisons of London-, Westmin ster, and the County of Middlesev,statiog their names, ages, date of confinement, Ste. front the Ist January, 1819, to the present time. He said, that a classification of the prisoners in those different Jails was about to be made, and it was desira ble that the number of Vagrants in them should be accurately ascertained. General HART moved for Copies of Bonds or other Ste, ties given by Robert Newman, or other Collectors of Revenue- Fines iraposed on Town kinds, for Illicit Distillation in /re- MISREPRESENTATION IN A REPORT. Sir W. DE CRESPIGNY said, he felt it necessary to rise in justification of an Honourable Friend of his, the Member for Portarlington, and in justification of himself, against a gross mis. represenution which bad appeared in a Morning Paper, which he would read to the House. The Hon. Member was proceed ing to read an extract from the Paper in question when The SPEAKER interrupted him, and obser ved, it was un usual to read extract , : from any Newspaper, or to name it, makes it was intended to found some ulterior proceedinp upon them. The usual course was, to advert to the 'misrepresentation only; a course which usually led to satisfactory explanation. Sir W. DE CRESPIGNY then resumediand adverted talkie speech of Thursday last, as reported in the Paper which he held in his hand, which imputed to him that he had made a charge against the Hon. Member for PortatUngtoc of having stated' opinions respecting the commercial situation of the country, which his lion. Friend never made, and be never charged hint with making. In fact, the report of what he (Sir William) had said, in the Paper in question, Was incorrect, and notbing lees than a gross misrepresentation. He should not, however, Sankt any motion on the subject. CORET OF EXCHEQUER SILL. The Bill for the better securing of suitors mosey, in the Court of Exchequer, was read the secogd time,i and ordered to be committed this day. Mr. ABERCROMBIE, shortly after this Bill was disposed of, complained that measures of tens important nature had been hurried through the House, at a period when it was generally supposed Parliament had been Called together with a view only to the State of the Country. He observed, a mea sure similar to this had been twice proposed, and failed as often, because the Hon. Member who brought it forward refused to recognize any provi sion which would give a compensation to the person who was deriving emolument from the public money. He now wished to know, if it was proposed to give any pension to the Deputy Remembrancer ? The Honourable Member then moved for an account of the money, &c. of suitors now in the Court of Exhequer, distinguishing what part of the said money remains there, as dead money, and unclaimed. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER thought that the Hon. Member might have inquired into what had passed in the House, before he pro nounced so decidedly as to certain measures. When he brought in this Bill, he distinctly stated, that his object was to have the Bill pass through certain stages, until it might be prepared for discussion, and that then it should stand over as long as any Hon. Member might think proper. He said, that he could, by possibility, have no personal object in the mea sure, and, therefore, could not have any unreasonable wish to precipitate it through the House. Mr. ABERCROMBIE said, the Bill was just read the second time, and stood for committal tomorrow; whereas the object of the Right Hon. Gentleman could have been as well attained by having the Bill printed, after the first reading, and letting it thea stand over. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, that as this was a Bill whose importance was entirely' in detail, it would be to little purpose to present it to Hon. Members for examination, without . having those details adjusted in a Committee. As soon as it passed the Committee, it should be printed, and stand over to any reasonable time—(Near, hear). The Papers moved for, by Mr. ABERCROMBIZ ' were then ordered. • - MANCHESTER AFFAIR. Sir ROBERT WILSON presented a Petition from James Chisler, of Royton, County of Lancaster, one of the persons present at the Meeting of the 16th of August, at Manchester. He stated, that the Meeting was perfectly tranquil until the irruption of the Yeo manry ; that he received two wounds, one in the head, and another in the arm, from a cavalry sword, together with bruises, in various pats of his body, and that the collar-bone, on his right side, was broken. He threw himself on the humanity of the House, and prayed that the authors of the violence might be brought to justice.—The Petition was then brought up and read, and ordered to be printed. Lord JOHN RUSSELL presented a Petition from James Handford, of Royton, a sufferer at Manche:- ter, on the 16th of August, containing a prayer to the same effect.—The Petition was read, and ordered l to be printed. ' Mr. P. MOORE presented a Petition from Joseph Coates, of the same place) also a sufferer at Man cliebter. The Hon. Member expressed a hope that some opportunity would be afforded by the House of examining the matter of these Petitions.—The Pe tition was read, and ordered m be . printed. Mr. RICARDO presented a Petition from ThCimas Smith, of the same place, another sufferer at Man chester, with a similar prayer.—The Petition was or dered to be printed. Mr. GRAHAM presented a Petition from Joseph Taylor, of the same place, who suffered also at Man chester, with a similar prayer.—Ordered to be printed. Hr. BOOTLE WILBRAHAM thought it eight ro notice the very remarkable circumstance, that all 'the Petitions, which had been just presented, were whiten in the hand-writing of the same person, ap parently, and that it looked as if they were presented concurrently, in order to drive the House to insitute an inquiry. Mr. GRAHAM said, he only knew that the Peti tion presented bylim was the Petition of an indivi dual whom, be believe* to have suffered, as he stated intiut Petition. ' • - 1 : • • Mr. B. WILBRAHAM did not mean to question' tl4utstha/the;tatemehts, bat he thought it his duti to call the attention of the 'House to the remarkable circumstance which -he had pointed out. *NANCE Mr. OBE/WELL said, that finding the Chancellor of the Exchequer was that morning reported to have said, with reference to a question put to him in the House, that he believed the Revenue of this year would go to the same extent that the Revenue of last year had gone, and that there would be a clear sur plus of five millions app li cable to the reduction of e Debt, the surprise and pleasure which he, as well is many others, felt at this statement, induced him to apply for a confirmation of it from the Right Honourable Gentleman himself, and . he hoped that the Right Honourable Gentleman would not be dis inclined to restate what he had said. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, he could have no disinclination to 'restate *hat he had said. In answer to an observation from an Ho nourable Member on the other side, he .lead stated, that from the progress of the Revenuethis year, he saw no reason for supposing that any material devia tion would take place in the plan which he had laid down to the House last year. Mr. BROUGHAM said, he was one of those who derived great satisfaction from the statement of the Right Honourable Gentleman yesterday ; but for the greater satisfaction of the House and the Country, he wished to know if the Chancellor of the Exchequer meant to say, that he expected to have a clear sur plus of five millions available to the reduction of the Debt, or did -he expect, from the state of the Revenue, that it would not be in his power to appropriate that sum to the prorsed object? The CHAN ELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, it would , have been more, reasonable if the Honour able Member had waited.until the regular time for the discussion of those :subjects. Bet even then be had no difficulty in stating his belief that, within a moderate compass, the produce of the Revenue this year would be equal, in every respect, to what it had been calculated to amount to last Session—Wear). Mr. BROUGHAM said, the explanation was very satisfactory, and would have been a little more so, but for the 'hitch as to f , the moderate compass" which the Right Honourable Gentleman introduced 'into his statement. . CASK of OPPRESSION. Mr. BENNET stated, he held in his hand a Peti• tion, which prayed that no additional extent of discre tion should be allowed to Magistrates. The prayer of the Petition was founded upon a representation of some curious facts, which he should detail to the House. He should first observe, that he bad made the most particular inquiry into the character of. the Petitioner, -and he bad the best authority for believ ing, that he was an individual of strict integrity, and , in no way connected with politics. The individual, Iwhose name was John Lever, was a resident at Man .ehester, and stated, that in 1812 it was proposed to him by a Magistrate, well known in the neighbour hood, to be employed as a Gove r nment Spy. was well known that this sort of character had been very common, and was not only not denied,• but openly defended in that House. He was told at the time the proposal was made, that it was intended that he should go through the different districts of Lancashire and Yorkshire, and that he might occasionally go the length of cursing the King, and if committed for se dition, he would be speedily libcrated. The man, however, being an honest man, refused to be so em ployed, and in consequence of his refusal, incurred the hostility of the Magistrate. Shortly after this, he was taken up on a charge of sedition, and exhi bited as General Ladd; but, on its being disco vered that he was not the person who had tilled that character, was discharged. Some time afterward s he was taken out of his bed, and sent to prison on a warrant, where he subsequently found that he had been committed on a charge of murder. The Ho nourable Member said, that doubting the accuracy of this statement, he had procured a copy of the ca lendar, and found the name of this person, and the charge in it, exactly as he bad stated it.• It appeared that the charge originated from the statement of a convict on board one of the hulks. However, Lever had oat been confined long, when by the aid.of his wife, two certificates were procured from a physician and a surgeon, stating that they bad known the per son alleged to have - been murdered by Lever, and that this person, so Fax from being murdered, bad died of a fever. Though those certificates had been put into the hands of the Magistrate already .. men tioned, he still kept the unfortunate man in prison, with a number of felons, and with all the said disgrace of murder. The Honourable Member ,he be lieved that no Bill was presented to the Grand Jury against this person for murder. He wrote to the So licitor who was engaged in the cause, but be was unable to give any information upon the subject.) He had seen the Jailor's book, and there was inserted t he name of John Lever, on a charge of murder. The a ccused was afterward; brought up isod. tried—not . . . for murder—hut for a political misdemeanor, whed two meN witnesses, swore to the most ridicelotit stories. The Jury, however, found him guilty, al+ though the Judge had declared the stories of the witnesses to lie absurd in the extreme. It was stated on the trial, that the prisoner expressed a wish " for the death of the King, and that his tea Might be sweetened with a pound of sugar of lead r Such was the statement upon which the Petitioner prayed that the House would not grant any a - dditittnal power to Magistrates, seeing those Officers could be capable • - of making such a mischievous use of the discretiott entrusted to them. • Mr. HUSKISSON said, it was somewhat 'remark+ able that the Hon. Member should have preferred giving his assent to the statement of the Petitioner, rather than the contradiction which was gieen to that statement by the verdict of a Jury. It was not his intention fo go into the question of facts; but he bek • lieved, that if individuals who had reason to be dies *satisfied with the verdict of a Jery could appeal to that House for redress, Palliaseemearetild be. pow petually employed upon Petitions of this nature. If the Magistrate in question had acted as he was teprea seated to have done, there were no doubt opporto+ nities enough •for redress. He submitted that the House was not the proper tribunal to entertain the charge preferred against the Magistrate, Mr. BOOTLE WILBRAHAM said, that having understood a charge of this sort was about to be prey filmed, he had taken some pains to inquire into the facts of the affair. The result of his inquiries he would now lay before the House. It was very gettea rally allowed, and he trusted the House would bear in mind, that no man ever stated his own case against himself. It appeared that this person, John L e ver, was apprehended in 1812 on a charge of sedition, upon the warrant of a Magistrate; and it was to be' remembered that this was not the Magistrate to whoa so much allusion had been made in the Petition. While the individual was in prison, a letter was re. ceived from Mr. Graham by the. Magistrate men tioned in the Petition, and in this letter was inclosed a communication from the Deputy of the hulks at Portsmouth. The subject of the communication was thist—.One of the convicts on board a hulk at Port.' sea, whose name was. John Harpur, had given in formation on oath, that to the best of his belief and knowledge, John Lever had committed a murder, in company with another individual, on the body et Thomas Chadwick, about three years before that time.--He stated, that on the night of the reported murder of Chadwick, he was returning from some distance to his house, and seeing two men, one of' whom was• Lever, on the road, consulting together, he went over to ask them- what they were doing ? They immediately required of him not to disclose to any one that he had seen them; they so intimidated him, that he fell on his knees sod pledged himself not to give any infoemation about them, and after that be ran home in a profuse perspiration. That very night, he wrote down the circumstance in his shop book, in order to be aitle to speak with greater accuracy in case he should be called on afterwards, He further stated, that John Lever had subsequently called at his shop, and purchased some articles of dress, renewing the obligation to secrecy on the de. portent. The Hon. Member said, that the statement he had now made was corroborated by an inquire in the Secretary of State's office, where he found, untie" the proper date, that Harpur had been convicted of forgery, and, being on board a convict hulk, was iu consequence of this information disembarked. The Magistrate to whom the communication was made, and who had been so often alluded to in the Petition, did immediately, as he was bound to, make inquiry about the individual, and finding that there were some strong suspicions attaching to bim, he issued his warrant for apprehending . him. When the pri!.., sober that brought Up at the Assizes, the family of the person said to be murdered, refused to prosecute, But though they refused to prosecute him, it did nct follow that the charge of sedition should.be abandon ed against the prisoner. He was . tvied for the mists demeanour, and as was stated by the Hon. Member opposite, he wail found gifilty by the Jury. Having so fare answered the charge, he had only to add, that it was now forthe first time brought forward, although, seven years had expired since the transaction, 40 it was only by good fortune, thatalle papers, on Which the defiles* was founded, were not destroyed.`aiteto the Hon. Member who, wished to present the Petition,. he could give him all the praise that was due to one who possessed an excellent heart, but he believed it laid him.open to a great deal of imposition. He too readily gave ear to stories of this kind, which waded to asperse characters not deserving of blame. Mr. Fletcher, the Magistrate, whose conduct had been called in question, had performed most arduous du• ties, with great credit to himself, in troublescme tines. He had never, in the long course of years during: which he had helclthe Commission of the Peace, been once called to account in the Court of King's Bench for any improper exertion of his authority. It appear. ed that the object of that and other Petitions was to establish a case from which an inference might be. drawn, to prove that no new powers should be en. trusted to the Magistrates, because some of them had unfairly exercised the powers with which they were at present invested. The Hon. Member then observed, it had been reported that the Magistrates who dis. perm& the Manchester Meeting on the 16th of last August, had acted under the orders of Government in that proceeding. But he could state, that thece was not one word of truth in it. He knew, from con versation with tome of those Magistrates, that chile - conduct was their own, and that they considered themselves responsible for it, and such would appear to be the case at the ensuing Assizes. He again wished the House to remark, that the Petition was brought forward after a lapse of seven years. Mr..BENNE'T said, that his observations on the Petition had been stualified by his having disclaimed all knowledge of the facts. Unless the illegal finentent, and the character of the man, into which b 1 HOUSE, December 92, 1819. (RECTORS of the UNITED ?Cif ANTS of ENGLAND, irediog hereby give Notice, 117 ItT will be held, by adjournment, t all-street, on WEDNESDAY, the in &Clock in the Forenoon, for the •position which will then be made rd at the General Court on the !2d ;h was this day adjourned to the said r in their Court-room a Statue of Wasant Harrnms, as a last testi . long, zealous, and successful sorties:is lia Company by that distinguished 7rnirt of Directors upon this subject for the invection of the Proprietors. JOSEPH D4IT. literceary. DIA HOUSE, December ltt, 1819. pißEc T onse Me UNITED WILLS TS qf EXCLAIM, ter* give Notice, GENERAL COURT of the said LT held at their House, in Leadenhall- LY, the itth of January next, there consideration of the Proprietors an he Court of Directors of this day's Court of Proprietors to authorise the r to his Majesty to raise and maintain, Lpany, a CORPS of VOLUNTEER Ingst the persons in the Company's esty shall accept such . 411 . er, then to Lrectors to defray the expense of the t of the Funds of the Company, and, an Act of Parliament to sanction the nt part thereof for that purpose. lotion now lies open at this House, for etor s. JOSEI'fI DART, Secretary. was published, price es. 3H REVIEW; or, CRITICAL EiN AL, No. LXIV. ate of the Country—Climbing Boys— aly—Conwarative Skill and Industry of i.tszon to Ashaotee--Congress of Vienisa hsorders--Dr. Clarke on Blow-pipes and f Parliamentary Inquiry—Mr. Owen's tional Distress—Turnpike Iloadm—E.lta auarterly List of New Publications. for Archibald Constable and Co. and Orme, aad Brows, London. Y .ELECTIONS. Polling for the undermentioned et!, and at the close the numbers tINGDON WI TROUT. d returns Sixteen Members. - 148 James Williams 148 Chas. A. Savage ▪ 184 Thomas Harper 127 W. Patten 122 T. 0. Smith • ▪ 122 J. W. Southgate ▪ 121 Richard Taylor ▪ 117 40 ~1.. Roberts - - 117 . 116 - 116 - 113 - - 111 111 - 105 - 105 - •s FL9GATit WITHOUT. Lrd returns Four Members. - 169 •Mr. T. Challis - 164 Teßowley - 153 °Banner . Jeputy Dacre resigned. TOWER. d returns Twelve Members. - 115 William Cawthorn - 113 James Hunt - 110 Robert Smith - 110 Gilpin Gorst - - 106 Samuel Dixon - . 104 David Laing - - 103 Lmuel Hutchinson resigned. CORDWAINERS. Gird returns Eight Members. - 49 W, Watson - - 47 Richard Abbey - 46 James Trimbey 44 •-- isVsiod - 42 BREAD-1 Ord returns ttEET. Twelve Members. John Elliott •--- Hallam Benjamin Biakesly Jonatkan Crocker • limes Bridge • Samuel Tipper - 40 Lures Bate, and Blackman, resigned. CoRNHILL. W.itirecurns Six Members. - 56 ramet Jacks - - 53 Thomas Blunt - - 47 •-- Allerston - 46 I •G. Carron - - 44 Ir. I'. P. Barraud resigned. - 3t . 2$ Ate, No. 153, to be published on Saturday din &Ades the Index for the Year, a fall y and very copious Extracts from the admi-' Novel of Ivanhoe, by the Author of Waverley %iniquities of Pola, and curious Account of People of Dalmatia—Beautiful Episode of nasiasius--Corroboration. of the Opinion img. of the Painted Chamber, that Oil Painting before the received era of that invention — pen of Walter Scott, an originala—Drarnatic .e usual variety of literary, scientific, and The Proprietors confidently assert, that this d to contain a more complete Record of the ciences, and general Intelligence of the Times trary Publication whatever. In three years Reviews of about Six Hundred New Books; zraphical Memoirs of Eminent Persons, who that time; Descriptions of all remarkable arts; Notices of Philosophical Discoveries; :very Exhibition or Production of the Arts ition; Remarks on the Drama at home and of Foreign Literature; Essays, Sketches of Jeuz-d'esprit, and other light Reading, to ,tad form many common-sized volumes, but as varieties in the closely printed columns of 11:.--Subscribers who desire to begin the New to give their orders early to any News-vender prevent disappointment, as only a limited ad. ade to sopyly -such demand, unless a larger iusly ascertained.a—The Price of each Weekly or Is. with a Stamp for the inimediate trars ot to any Part of the Country. - 55 . 30 136 116 97 10W2 100 98 97 St 62