Star. — London, England, 1819-12-28 00:00:00

~ i 4 ' I " Q ~ ~'~ ~: ~d.. y ut ~1 I , ilt) t .t i . ~. - • ' t I I f 1 * i t . 1 : . , • I '7l. .. 1 • • '1 i 1 . he could - depend. Thus five informations had bees filed against Cat lile, as the vender of a seditious puk. lication, because Sherwin, the printer, could not lk found. The regulations in the Bill, upon this and' other points, would, he trusted, have the effect of checking the circulation of these poisonous publica . tions, of which there had, lately, been so lamentable, • au inundation, and he trusted also that their Lord ships would not hesitate to pass it, seeing, as they must, that blasphemy and sedition had entered• into a conspiracy against the Religion and the Cunstitu-i tioh of the Country, which could only be effectually put down by the strong arm of the law. His Lord-, ship concluded by moving that the Bill be read a second time. The Earl of DONOUGHMORE—Ministers have, then, at last wound up, to a happy and appropriate conclusion, by this attack upon the freedom of the Press—those measures of indiscriminate coercion— that systiun of pains and penalties which they had devised against a suffering and a prostrate people, and which have been carried into complete and un relenting execution by overwhelming majorities in both Houses of Parliament—those ready instruments' in the hands of the servants of the Prince Regent, to keep his Majesty's subjects down—that best of all possible arguments, in the opinion at least of the Noble Knight of the Thistle on the Cross Bench, ia , favour of their own- practice, whatever that practice may happen to be. Such are the true characteristics of the,e fearful measures, as they have stamped themselves on my mind, in impressions never to be effaced. But what is the light in which we are called • upon to view them by their authors and abettors on the other side of the house? Instead of a successful - attack upon the Iherties of all the people, and in some of the great essentials, too, which I believe its my conscience they would have achieved, the Noble' Earl with the blue ribbon has not hesitated, to take cio-1 slit for these enactments, as a mild system of reme dial measures—measures of peculiar grace and mercy ' towards the whole community, necessarily called for, for the protection of the faithful subjects of the State, against the inroad of certain impending dangers, which, however, have come into existence —havebeen born and bred, and have arrived at full maturity, during the very short period which has intervened ' since the last prorogation of Parliament. If Minis ters had been aware of the impending storm, is it, possible that they could so far have neglected their duty, as to have sent the Members of both Houses' home; without giving them some authentic intima tion of the dangers with which the country was en compassed ? For such an authoritative caution we should have naturally looked to the Speech from the Throne on closing the Session. Is there a syllable in that speech, to prepare us for the terrible tale of dis affection, and insurrectionary movement, to which we have been called together tiMisten?—As Minis ters could have had no possible interest in conceal ing from the Parliament the existence of those dan gers, if they had really conceived them to exist, I have a right to take it as an acknowledged fact, that there was no other feeling but that of loyalty and affection towards the Crown and the Government, in the _ minds of the people in the month of July last. And is it not making too great a demand upon our cre dulity, for Ministers to call upon us to believe, that in four short months this mushroom - rebellion has sprung up, and has already assumed so formidable an appearance? What, then, is the rest* of allthis? My Lords, I do not feel myself entitled to believe that disaffection has taken deep root, or 'that it has .extended itself widely. lam not bound to give im ' plicit credit to the representations which Ministers, think fit to make in their places in Parliament, and that garbled statement which they have presented to both Houses with so much form and solemnity. I think it my duty to reject it, because it is offered as conclusive evidence against the people of these countries, tor whom evidence was offered to be pro duced at the bar of both Houses of Parliament— (hear).—But Ministers refused to hear a word in their defence, and are now prepared to complete this 'the last act of outlawry against them, on the more li uncorroborated statement of their inveterate pro secutors, the Ministers of the Prince Regent, and without a tittle of such evidence as would, or ought to be received, in any Court of Justice—(Hear).-- My first and main objection then to these measures, of which that before the House brings up the rear, is, because a sufficient Parliamentary ground has not been laid, to authorise so serious a proceeding as the stripping the subject of any part of his constitutional privileges. I have another objection against the con- duct of Ministers, in urging the enacting of these heavy penalties as general measures, because, upon the Chewing of the Ministers themselves, they were devised as the cure for insubordination and turhu- lento in a very few districts only, and those very pa4icularly circumstanced—and because Ministers have, notwithstanding, prevailed upon the Parlia ment to pass a general sweeping system of coercion against the whole community. I have a further ground of objection, because Ireland hat been in cluded in the wide spreading proscription—whereas ber acknowledged tranquillity and peaceable de meanour ought to have made her a very unfitting object for any new measures of severity, and inas much as the present measures cannot by any possibi lity affect her present situation, or even bear upon her former habits, when she deserved less well of the general community than she does at present; and because there has been nothing to justify suspicion against her in the remotest degree, or at all to pre pare her for this cruel infliction, except, perhaps, her having been recently honoured by the panegyric of the Ministers. Because, at t season of extraordi nary and almost unexampled pressure and suffering, Ministers have closed their ears against the distresses of the People. I have an additional reason for ob jeaing to these measures, as those of unmixed seve rity, when conciliation could have been at the same time so benignantly and so .beneficially applied. Rut further, the very principle on which these mea sures are founded, strikes my mind as in the highest degree objectionable, inasmuch as they draw a wide • demarcation between the different orders in between the many and the few, the rich and the task-masters and the effective part of .elation, teaching to the People this worst of possible lessons, that in the eye of the Parliament least, their interests, and those of the higher or ,consistent with each other—and again, be these their lines of demarcation, Ministers have overlooked tlaatrost appropriate of all distinc tions, the separation of file innocent from the guilty: My Lords, I object to the whole of the machinery with which Ministers have preceded and accompa nied these extraordinary measures. They have taken the Head of the State from that dignified retirement in which he is placed in the sanctuary of the Consti tution, from which he is produced to the view of his People in his own proper person, only for the, pur pose of exercising the high function of giting or re fusing his sanction to the enactments of both Houses of Parliament ; or the higher function still, of dis pensing the heavenly prerogative -of mercy. But Ministers have broken into the sanctuary. They have brought the Illustrious Person forward to give a precipitate approval of the massacre of his father's subjects, and to influence thereby, as has been too fatally proved, the conduct of Magistrates, and, as I fear, of Juries too ; thus closing the door of justice against the unfortunate victims in the tragedy which was exhibited at Manchester, on the 16th of August , last. And lastly, I object to those measures, be cause some of their most eloquent advocates have thought it indispensable for them, in arguing their necessity, to vilify and degrade that important part of the Constituency, the People, even below the humble rank which chey,are acknowledged to hold in the community of the State. This may, perhaps, have been a popular topic for the moment, accord ing to the extra-aristocratic feeling of the present day. But thii argument, if it deserves the name, could surely have been intended for no other purpose , but to exhibit thetappy dexterity of the eloquent ap; tist in the most vivid colours, whilst he left the case ' just where he found it. But, according to my view of the subject, the just composition of - the State as signs to that reprobated thing, the People, no incon• siderable place. The People form the great body of the social - community. It is from them that it re ceives its form and consistency. They are the sinews, of the nation's strength in war ; and in peace, the' humble instruments of its commercial prosperity. It was that reprobated thing, the People, which fought uathrough the long and arduous contest which has crowned with glory- the British and the Irish name; and has borne the triumphal car of Waterloo's dis l tinguished Chief t o conquest an d to i mmorta li ty ! The Duke of ATHOL obset ved, with reference to the expression of the Noble Earl, that the over whelming majorities in the two Houses had been the fit instruments of Ministers in passing through these measures, that it was an expression 'improperly ap plied. Did the Noble Earl mean to disparage the conduct, pi arraign the motives, of those Noble Lords who had conscientiously come forward with their votes in support of the Government at' crisie of great public danger? - He could for himself say, that he had most conscientiously voted for these measures, being thoroughly satisfied in his own mind that they were imperiously required by the state of the country. The Noble Earl and others might have come to a different conclusion ; but surely when the Noble Earl claimed the right of opinion for him self, he ought not to impeach the motives of others who conscientiously differed from him. He was satisfied, however, that these measures were called for by, and would prove highly satisfactory to, the great majority of the country . A n d whin 'h op 'nor ageun, he had no doubt be should be.enabled to con gratulate them on the success with which these mea sures had been attended; they would operate, as in ,deed they had partly already, t o g i ve strengt h to the loyal and well-disposed, to assure the timid, to rescue the seduced, and to show the really disaffected, in that paucity of number s and - strength, which, when they were stripped of the aid they derived from the want of measures like these, would, he had no doubt, be found to belong to them. As to inquiry, it ap peered to him perfectly unnecessary; he was fully prepared on the first day of the Session to vote for Measures to repress the evil, because he was satisfied Of its existence from the notoriety of the case. In quiry must unavoidably have consumed much time, and in the interim the Radicals•might have assumed a position that would have beer. of-serious importance to the Country. As to -the distress of the People, which was undoubtedly in some instances great, he ~ th ought that Ministers b a d s h ewn every d ispos i t i on Ito alleviate it, and he was satisfied, that by their con duct, with regard to these measures, their popularity had been greatly increased. • The Earl of DONOUGHMORE, in explanation, said, that he should disclaim nothing, but, on the contrary, wished every word that had fallen from him to be understood in its full force. He appealed to the House whether he had given any Parliamentary offence in the expressions he bad used, or stated any thing that could be mistaken for such by any man capable of feeling the force of an argument? No misunderstanding on the part of the Noble Duke should induce him to adopt any change in that ste a dy line of conduct which h e had heretofore pursued, or to disclaim any thing he had said, as he was con scious of having said nothing of which he ought to repent. The Duke of ATHOL, in explanation, admitted that there was no Parliamentary offence in the lan guar - of the Noble Earl. age The Earl of HARROWBY defended the Govern; .rent against the charges of the Noble Earl, and maintained that sufficient warning had been given of the circumstances of the Country in the Speech from the Throne at the close of the last Session. Warn-, ing was also given in the letters addressed to the Lord Lieutenants of Counties, and the Proclamation respecting Seditious Meetings. In answer to thear. gument, that if Ministers were then aware of the danger, they ought to have brought forward their measures at the moment, he observed, that no one could have anticipated the occurrences which took place during the Recess, and that Ministers, by wah ing until now, only shewed a disposition to trust t• the existing laws, as long as they could do se with safety. Besides, the refusal of the Noble Lords on the other side to assent to them even now, was a proof of the difficulties that must have attended their pro. posal at any former period. He concurred with the Noble Duke (of Athol) in thinking that the majorities in favour of those Bills mere not confined to the two Houses of Parliament, but combined all the sound part of the community. lie was justified in saying so, when he found that, with the exception of London. Westminster, and South war k, no P et i t i on or Remon strance had wen presented against them. The silence of the People could not be disputed ; and if ever these was an occasion to which the hackneyed quota-. .on "dum tacent clamar. r might kit applied, it was the occasion of ivhich he was speaking. Prom this , dis position he augured favourably of the future tran quillity of the Country, and thought that G 3,011- ment, by looking the dapger in the face, had pur sued the only practicable measure of conciliation, that of providing for the safety of the well-disposed subjects of the Crown. The Earl of DONOUG H MORE repeated, that he was sorry Ministers had done nothing . in the four months that they had known disaffection to exist— but lr..td at last thrown themselves behind Parliament, and not used the power vested in them. The LORD CHANCELLOR denied that Minis ters were chargeable with the attempt to separate the rich from the poor, or to divide themselves from the People of this Country. In the part which he had himself taken during these proceedings, he was influenced by a wish to support the true interest and' real happiness of the People, and to defend their liberties as established by law. Upon this principle he considered, that the meeting of Parliament alone, even if no such Bills had been passed, a great bless ing. Before Parliament met, they had heard of the legality of such Meetings ar that of Manchester, but no man in either House had dared to defend or asse:t such a doctrine; it wasiaeard of no more. Liberty and Death was a motto much insisted on in other places; he hopad, that as long as Englishmen were Englishmeo, they would prefer death to the surren der of their liberties ; but the liberty to which he alluded, was not the liberty designated by black and 'bloody flags, or contained in the principles of Uni versal Suffrage and Annual Parliaments. He would confess that he had fears for the constitutional liberties of Englishmen, before Parliament had met, but since their meeting these fears had vanished, as he found that the great majority of the People had con fi dence in Parliament. They were told that the Bills inter fered with the Right of Petitioning,•*ltile on the contrary, they protected that right, by putting an end to those Assemblies of intimidation, by which the right was abused, and in effect prohibited. The Bills to prevent training and the possession of arms, were also necessary, for the intention of the Meeting at Manchester, and other simultaneous Meetings, was to subvert the Constituted Authorities. Private drilling was in itself an overt act of High Treason, and though the Bill of Rights recognized the pos session of arms by the subject for his own defence, it also asserted the right of the Legislature to inter fere when they were intended for other purposes. He was no Whig, in the meaning of some Noble Lords, but he hoped he would still continue, as he had always done, to act upon the sentiments of Lord Somers and the principles of the Revolution. The truly great men who took the lead in that transac tion, displayed a fearful reverence for the Constitu tion, and a determination not to go one inch further than the necessities of the time required. They were now discussing a Bill with reference to the Press, the importance of which was such, that he could not give a silent vote upon the subject. But while be ad mitted that the liberties of Englishmen were greatly promoted by the Press, he was anxious that they should not be destroyed by the same power ;- and he believed, in his conscience, that the Attorney-Gene ral could not p.n....eft. gfeed:eines. nna hl atephemime. works with effect, without the assistance of such a Bill. The case was perfectly new. During the time that, be (the Lord Chancellor) had filled the same (Ace,. waggon loads of papers were not sent through the country to be distributed on the highways, and in troduced into the cottages. But it was stated, that the two cases ought to be separated. They could not be separated.—the ease was one and the same.— it,was seditious blasphemy, or blasphemous sedition. Such were his conscientious opinions. He might, pos sibly, be wrong ; but as he thought he was not so, he knew enough of the People of England to be cer tain that they would do justice to his motives. The Bill was read a second time, and the House Adjourned. / • h • , degree ouy r ' ' I ' .. t lnc of dei - • -. society, be i-. ~..( , I the poor, I the popula , 1 .1 . ,ti . all possible at least, tl dens are inc 1 i cause in LI i . - • ew: ~~^? - 7 7- SPANISH AMERICA. (From The Morning Chronicle). • We have long been aware that the vaunted state merits of the Spaniards respecting the pacification of Mexico were incorrect, but the difficulty of obtaining inforniation from that quarter has prevented tisior some time from judging of the state of public opinion in that most interesting portion of the Columbian continent. The population of New Spain is situated in the &arca a wide and sechided continent,' of which the Spaniards possess the outlets, and these they guard with a jealous. care. Their system of police hod terror there has been so successfully organized, that for the last two years little else than vague rumours, respecting the state of the kingdom of Mexico, have found their way through the wilderness to the United States, or been picked up in the port of Vera Cruz 67 undiscriminating captains and supercargoes, who have too often disfigured events by confusing the difficult nomenclature of Mexican towns and sur names. We are, however, happy to find that the. Ma drid Gazettes, in this respect, are mistaken, and that the spirit of freedom i s by no means extinguished, notwithstanding the exertions of. Viceroy. APODACA, and the numerous forces by which he is supported. --Since•the destruction o(MINA, we were not igno rant that the Royalist Army had been scattered over an immense territory, but till we now examined the reports made to the Viceroy of the several Chiefs, we had not understood that the war was still carried on with any degree of activity. These official reports themselves acknowledge the existence of an intrusive, rebel, and oaten:Relents Junta or Government in the• - Province of Valladolid, the ancient kingdom of Mechoacan, which is obeyed by, twenty-three.Cona mandeis of Guerilla parties, amounting in :all to 12,000 men. In Mexico, the Clergy have always been foremost in the R evo l ut i on , and frequently com manded divisions, and we now hear of Father Tha nes with 3000 men, and the rich cacique, ItttrrirrA. under him with 2000 snore. The Pittriot Govern ment, it ap pe ars, resides in the mountainous parts of what is called La Tierra Calicsae, or the coast of the Pacific, between Valladolid and New Galicia, where the mountains are inaccessible to the Spaniards and well fortified. The Patriots have their partisans in every part of the kingdom, and enjoy a ccimplete ascendancy in the Provinces of Gssanaxoato, Quere taro, and die northern parts of dome of Mexico, La Puebla, and Vera Cm. • •• • . In the two first a re three boliikes . the name of Ortrui,with considerable diviaboit and occaaitmalky .. acting the other three, is the Adman Genital Gus- . • DALUPE VICTORIA, and his tecond in command' Jots VERGARA, who, with their little army; long , braved the efforts .of the Spaniards. parties being nearly all mounted, and compo the hardy and enslurinx natives, they keep their I Irides in continual motion, hara s s an d cut o ff thei • tachments, following up a perfect Guerilla sv for which habitually, as well as from the natio their country, they are so well suited. By tlts having their secret and sworn friends every - 3 .1 they keep up a line, of communication fiorn Northern coast of Vera Crux to the Pacific, in an tent of more than eoo leagues. General VIM occupies' a territory in which are the mines of chuca, Moran, Real del Monte, an d P otos i , the I' called so after the rich mineral ridge of that r. belonging to the provinces of B uenos A yres. i DALLIPE VICTORIA is a younger brother of the quis of the same name, and belongs , to one of richest families in Mexico. He is active and nal, and the personal dangers be has frequently run beyond belief. Several of the Chief. who, in co.. quence of the critical situation in which they 'placed, had availed themselves of the Royal par. . have again taken up arms, and among them is Pt Some few of the Officeri who followed the unto nate MINA, are scattered among the Guerilla pa • We are, however, candid enough to confssi, th notwithstanding the spirit of hostility to Spain, a a determination to be free, still. prevails in a ci. derable portion of New Spaio, and will be kept all by the activity of determined partisans, it cannot f the present lead to any result approaching the dos. fall of Spanish power in that important score owing to a variety of reasons, it would take sc time to unfold, among which is the want of a and the elements of war. The Spaniards have alwa possessed the points of maritime communicatic hence have they been able amply to supply the:: selves, whilst the Patriots have had no other weapo c than those they could wrest from their enemy ontl. field of:battle. Thus will the emancipation of Meth as we have.uniformly expressed it as our opinion, b the Igst• part of that grand work, fast operating I. Spanish Columbia. The Revolution there cannot w. same any decided feature till the Governments of tl !other sections have completed their labours, or till 'suits the policy of the United States to improve a avail themselves of that popular feeling which th. digents of Spain have been unable to extinguish, eitl.e with the bayonet, axe, or insincere pledges of Pop pardon. Whenever one of the above periods may itt• rive, Mexican ehlancipation will be sure and rapid, cause the resources contained in the country are greater It is on the latter event, that possibly the earliest re-. liance can be placed, because it accords with Ile policy and natural interests of the Washington Go. vernment, to promote an object, of such immense importance to themselves and the world at large; and if we mistake not, the future destinies of New Spain will be read in the very Message of the Pre sideot, now chtily expected in this Country. In the mean time we lay before our Readers translations of such extracts of the voluminous papers as have reached us, certainly by a curious route, for they as cended the Pacific, doublid Cape Horn, and crossed the Atlantic, before they came into our hands. This 14 owing to c;rcesrnstances above stated, and accauuts for the tardiness of the dates, which do not coma higher than last March. They are, nevertheless, °a these matters, the most recent in Europe. _I ET RA C FROM AN OFFICIAL STATEUENT 0? TIM 4.lnraiits OF THE MEXICAN PATRIOTS OF TO JA• *DANZ 1819: •K -At length the inhabitants of the provinces see through the deception. of the Royalists published is their Gazettes, 'giving false and exaggerated accounts of the tranquillity of New Spain, and studiously cir culated for political purposes. These stratagems here are now threadbare, though they may not he so in Europe. The fact' is, that though they de stroyed HIDALGO, MORELOS, RAYON, and NINA, and took from us several fortified points of import ance, the revolutionary spirit is still the same, because it originated in the determination to be free, and the conviction that our cause was just. their expeditions ag_ainst what they call the rebels, VICTORIA and VERGARA, and another Chief who has risen up in the North, called Ba c/ADO, have hitherto been fruitless. When it is the interest of these men not to fight, they fly, tr. t still they exist and carry on their Guerilla system. This may be seen by 'frequent reports sent officially to the Vicstamt of unsuccessful nunentents made against!them. There the names. and tactics may be read at full length, though perhaps the next line contains an assurance that every thing is tranquil. such is the state of our country, that were our mili tary Chiefs pressed On this side, they could easily withdraw to mountains where they might bid defiance 'to all the forces of the VICRROY• The Spaniards cannot be every where, and though they may have 20,000 men under arms, that is nothing fur such a population as ours, if we bad only weapons. The re volutionary spirit still sustains itself, and spreads tc wards the Provincias interims, where, if wished, it will be possible to fortify points more effectually than the Cerro de Coporo or the famous Zitaquarc. —Though our enterprises on the road to Vcra Cruz, where the Royalists have placed strong divisions, are less active at present, they are not so on the main road into the interior, and towards Valladolid, Gun nazi:sato and Queretaro, where the Royalist divisions of Orantia and Villa-Sem:Ware posted, are only able to. make feeble head against us. Notwithstanding episcopal communicptions, and the seductive offers of the VICEROY, several clergymen still lead on the people, such as TORRES, ROHM, and Mascos, besides many .others, chiefly in the province of Valladolid. In Gaadalaxara are GONZALES, Castaii.ms., Gr relsßtta, TORILACIDO, and DRLOADO, all of wl.om da their duty;* Tlea Naw Mosrat.e M.4OAZINE•We arc re quested toremind the Public that the First Number of a Naw VoLosee of this interesting Miscellany, embellished with a fine Pbrtrait of the celebrated CANOVA, will be published on the first of Ja nuary, and those persons who may wish to avail themselves of this faviserable opportunity for com mencing it, are requested to forward their orders, without delay, to their respective Booksellers or Newsmen. This Number will be found to exhibit, isi eke, respect, a striking proof of the decided supe riorhy of the plan of this Maga z i ne , w hi c h ma y b e regMatil er ttansmisted shrewd/ by applyuag to any Passim: . . • rr - . =-' • • , Yesv Icor gr TA re(