Star. — London, England, 1824-02-13 00:00:00

• . ••• -. s .. shew the importance of these subjects. Tho , e who wished that the existing state of things might continue, would have an opportunity of stating their objections before a Committee, in thu coosecution of the inquiry: and in any measures it might he judged expedient to found' on tiii,ted in a great measure to the assist ance of hi, 7.lajesty's Ministers ; and he entertained well founded i : o c e; of a benebcial result from the just prin ciples on which they seemed di,po ed to act with re spect to eve , ything connected with the industry and commerce of the country. Without their concuirence comillete effect could not be given to the labours of the Committe-. With their aid he was disposed to think that existing prejudices might be removed. The Ho nourable Gentleman coochided by moving for a Select Committee to inquire into the state of the laws and their consequences, re-petting artisans leaving the country, the exportation of machinery, and the combination of vLoi kmen.—Mr. ELLICE seconded the motion. Mr. HUSXISSON said he did not mean to give any opposition to the motion : on the contrary, he ruse to ex press his concurrence. At the same time, he wished it to be understood that he held himself free as to the cons se he should adopt, which would depend on the evi dence brought before the Committee. In much of the general reasoning of the Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Hume) he concurred. Of the impolicy of the laws which went to restrain artisans from converting their skill and dexterity to the best advantage he had little doubt. However long any laws might have ramained on the Statute Book, when a question was raised as to their utility, it rested with those who maintained an opposite s :e,v to prove the necessity of their existence. That necessity must depend upon, and have reference to some great and paramount public interest—(Near!) —not merely the interest of any particular class who em ployed artisans, and whom alone it concerned that the laws should remain. Upon no other principle than that of being opposed to a paramount public interest could any artisan be precluded from converting his skill and labour to the best advantage, and carrying them to whatever market he might judge most conducive to his interest. He ought to be at liberty to secure his own comfort wherever he thought there was the greatest likelihood of success. They must first inquire whether the laws restraining artisans fi om going out of the coun try were just and necessary; secondly, whether they were efficient? For his own part he believed they led to nothing but perjury.—They were ineffectual to prevent any person from going out of the country—he had no thing to do but to take what was called a Custom-house Oath. la France there were many manufactories, the directors of which, and all the ts or kmen, were English. If they could find as good a mar ket fur their skill and labour at home, they would not go abroad. There were few who would not willingly return, if they had a bet ter prospect of employaont. Though he had no doubt upon the subject, still inquiry and discussion were ne cessary to remove any doubts that might exist in the minds of those interested in the laws airuJed to. Opi nions were more divided upon the question of exporting machinery. There were many who might think that it would be injurious to the interests of those who held patents. Still on this point too, he was disposed gene rally to coincide with the reasoning of the Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Hume). If mechanics were allowed to emigrate, it would be a diffiCtilL matter to prevent the machinery also from leaving the country. Age, indeed, since there was no effectual check upon the emigration of artisans, the probability was that the machinery which they used, if not made at home, and allowed to be exported, would be made in foreign countries. It was also a question for consideration, whether this part of the law was practicable? For his own part he thought it was not: for he had very good reason to know that there was no piece of machinery, however cumbrous, that could not be carried out of the country clandes firmly. He therefore fully agreed with the lion. Mem ber, in deeming it well worth inquiry, whether it would not be better to avail our selves of the advantages to be derived from the manufacture of the machinery for the supply of other countries, than to continue in force laws for restraining the exportation of machinery which could not effect that object, but which might have the effect transferring those advantages to other countries?— With respect to that branch of the Hon. Member's motion which related to what were commonly called the Combination Laws, he had no hesitation in stating his opinion to be, that so far from operating in any de gree to check the spirit of combination among work men, all the laws that had ever been enacted on that bead had only tended to increase such combination. The disputes and misunderstandings which had been of such frequent occurrence for many years past, be tween the masters and workmen in the manufacturing districts, the constant jealousies that had been fomented among them, and the heat and irritation with which they bad been kept up, all arose out of the impression that those laws were framed 1. r the prejudice of the working classes, and for the advantage of their em ployers. It was no unimportant objection to any law, that it created between the masters and die workmen a different relation from that which ought to be kept up.'' And it was enough for him to know that an improper state of feeling, arising out of the state of die laws, did subsist between those parties, to induce him to support a proposition for an inquiry into all the laws that re strained labour, or controuled the artisan, either in the choice of the place where his labour should be em ployed, or of the mode of employing it, or which at all interfered with the contract between niaste, s and workmen, with :t view to the removal of such of those lan s as should be found to be too oparta;sive to be car ried into operation, or otherwise im;aslitic in their na ture and tendency ; though from want of fuller inkr mation on the subject, he was not prepared to go the length of the Honourable Mem'>er in saying that it would be better that all those laws shauld be reae.oed. There were indeed some among them which, as it ap veered to him at present, it would Lc impossible to do without. Where, for instance, a et orkman was on , ployed on work which he ought in a given time to finish, there must be souse law by %%Inch he must be compelled to do it, or punished for his ne . ;lect. In like manner, when workmen combin e d together to prevent others from wurl.ing, fur the pur pose of carrying some particular object, it was trot to be supposed that they could be pertnh:ed to do so with impunity ; perhaps, however, the Common Law be found adequate to the punishment and repres sion of this offence. On the whole he was convince.: there could be outhing more desirable than that the lharae of Commarra should apply its attention seriously to the consideration of the subject ; so far, therefore, from opposing the motion, he would rather afford the honourable Member all the encomagemeut arid assist : nce in power in pursuing the inquiry, and in seek ing out the best. means of promoting the object which . • he hi,l in view. And here he could not but regret the loss they had sustained, in being deprived on this occa sion of the valuable assistance of the late Honourable Member for Porrarling,ton (Mr. Ricardo). He cordially joined with the Honourable Member for Aberdeen, in lamenting the loss of his service, and in the eulogium which he had pronounced upon him. No man held in higher r.timation than he did the acuteness of intellect and the powers of rea:oning which that Hon. Member possessed, or valued more highly his exalted talents— his depth of research, his indefatigable spirit of inquiry, his perseverance in the pursuit of any object which he considered as tending to the public good, his zeal for the interest and welfare of his country, and his steady adherence to principle. These were qualities which eminently adorned the character of that Honourable Gentleman, by whose death the country bad been de prived of one of her most valuable subjects, and that House of one of its most distinguished ornaments. The proposed inquiry, if pursued with diligence and indus try, and with the determination to arrive at the best and soundest conclusion which the information within rhe reach of the Committee might enable them to form upon the subject, could not fail of producing much real good, in the removal from the Statute Book of much that it was dcsk . able for the general interest of the coun try, as well as for the advantage of the parties more im mediately affected, should be removed : and upon these grounds, though, as he had said before, he was not pre pared to go with the Honourable Member for Aber seen to the length of saying that all the existing laws relating to this subject ought to be repealed, yet he cor dially supported the Motion for an inquiry into the state of those laws, with a view to their amendment. Mr. BIRCH supported the Motion, and anticipated the most salutary consequences from the inquiry. The motion was then put and agreed to netn. con. Mr. HUME then moved that the following Members be of the Committee, viz. _ _ Mr. Hume, ]Jr. Sir Charles Grant, Mr. Sturges Bourne, Mr. Attorney-General, Mr. Solicitor-General, Mr. Birch, Mr. Denman who were accordingly appointed. Mr. F. Lewis, Sir H. Parnell, Mr. Phillips, Mr. P. Moore, Mr. Lytt leton, Mr. J. Wilson, Sir Thomas Aeland, Mr. Hobhouse, MISCELLANIES. Lord PA LMERSVIN presented the Army Estimates for the ensuing year, which were ordered to be printed. He then gave notice that if the Estimates were printed in time, it was his intention to move them in the Committee of Supply on to-morrow se'nnight. The s.inie Noble Lord then presented a Return of the Number of Applications for Special Vestries under the Act Ist Geo. IV. cap. 9. stating the number of Dioceses in which Commissioners have been appointed, and the Humber of cases in which the Ves tries have been adjourned sine die.—Ordered to be printed.—The House then adjourned. THE EVENING STAR. LONDON. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1824. THE FUNDS. STOCK EXCHANGE, TWELVE O'CLOCK. Consols opened this morning at 91}, j, and got up to at which price they remain steady, with little business doing. Two Expresses having arrived from Paris this morning, caused a report of the death of the King of nutter ; but, on inquiry, we do not find the above report to be correct. It certain, however, that when the Expresses left Paris, his MAJESTY was very ill. FOREIGN FUNDS. This being settling-day for Spanish Bonds, most of the Brokers are making up their accounts. Austrian Bonds have experienced a rise, owing to 25 per Cent, having been paid yesterday by the holders of th.tt Stock. Current Prices : New Spanish 171 to g. Old 24i g, Colombian 721 to 73, Austrian 61 to 7, Chilian 80g, Mexican Loan 5g g, Rus sian 9tig, New Prussian 91 ; Old 93, Neapolitan 821 to 83, French Scrip 91, HuUetc's Mexican Mines lg prem. PRICE OF STOCKS AT ONE O'CLOCK. Bank Stock 237 3 / 4 -3 per Cent. Redu. 91 1 78 92 1 / 8 1 / 4 S per Ct. Cons. 91 7 / 8 3 / 8 1 / 8 1 / 4 -3 1 h per Ct. 100 1 / 2 sh 4 per Cts. Old 102 1 / 2 5 / 8 -4 per Cts. New 106% 1 / 2 % Bank Long Ans. 22 9-16 7-16—India Bonds 755. 72'. Exchequer Bills (1:1,000) 40i. 55s.—Small 40s. 355. Consols tor Account 911/4 1/,. The appointment of the Marquis of HASTINGS to the Governorship of Malta, to which is added the Com mand in Chief of the Forces in the Mediterranean ; and Of Sir FREDERICK ADAM, to be Lord high Com missioner in the lonian Islands, will appear in the Gazette of to-morrow evening. An Express from Paris has brought us, this forenoon, the Moniteur and Galignani's Messenger of Wednesday. The official part of the Moniteur mentions that the Minister of Mecklenburgh Strelitz, had had a private audience of the KING on Tuesday, to announce the birth of a Prince, son of the GRAND DUKE. His Maai•:,ry held a public Levee on the same day, and afterwards transacted business with M. VILLELE, the President of Council. The article in the Journal des Debuts, correcting the statement of the Etoile, as to ceitain portions of the public revenue of Spain having been mortgaged to pay the debt owing to Fiance, is copied in the Moniteur; and may therefore be considered as having received official sanction. Galignani's Messenger quotes the following article from the Journal de Toulouse (the native town of the Minister of Finance); it is by no means destitute of probability : " We learn from Paris, that the reduction of the in_ terest of the Public Debt, from five to tour per cent, is more talked of than ever. It is said, that the French Gore, nment will raise a Foreign Loan, at the rate of three per cent. the produce of which will serve to pay off such creditors of the State as prefer to receive their capital. It is calculated, that by this opera oon :he Government will reduce the National Debt .A) u,iiiious per annum, and that this plan will have the advantage of augmenting the value of pr ,perry, by the abundance of cash which will be in circulation. It is likewise rumoured that a Great Book will be opened for indemnities to be granted to emigrants. According to the new plan, there will be made upon the interest a drawback which will serve fundholders in the place of a land-tar, and be equally effectual in investing them with the electoral franchise." A clerk in die War-Office has been taken into cus tody, upon a charge of having obtained the sigrature of the Minister, to enable persons to procure patents of Members for the Legion of Honour. French five per cents, 97 fr. '2O c. Hobait nten Gazettes of the Ist September have been received at the New England Coffee-house this morn ing. They mention the arrival, ['tom England, of the ship Commodore Hayes, Captain MONChIEF, with 216 male convicts. She had on board the bead-quarters and Staff of the 3d Regiment of Infantry (or Buffs). — There had been a General Meeting at Hobart Town of the merchants, landholders, and respectable inhabitants, when an abstract of a regulation for the Bank was agreed to, and a large portion of the shales subscribed for. The Chairman of the Meeting, with a deputation of twelve Gentlemen, had afterwards an interview with the Lieutenant-Governor, for the purpose of tequesting him to obtain a charter from his Ex cellency the Gover nor-in-Chief, which his Honour promised immediately to solicit. We received this morning the remaining Paris Papers of Tuesday. The Journal des Dcbats admits that the Spanish Go vernment has acknowledged itself indebted in the sum of thirty-four millions of francs to France, but declares that it has assigned no funds, and made no provij. , n whatever for the payment of that debt. " When all the details of our interference in the affairs of Spain S11:111 be known," adds that Journal, " and the Convention tor the residence of our troops shall have been signed and laid before the Public, it will be seen by what principles of generosity France has been guided in that memorable enterprize." Great exertions, it appears, are making in the pro vinces of Spain to organise the Ktkro's Guard: enlist ments wete taking place at Madrid, and in the capitals of the provinces, for the purpose. Constant tumults (as the French Papers call them), it appears, yet take place, and tranquillity throughout wretched Spain is far from being established. A slight tumult took place at Villacagnas, but was put down by the firmness of the Alcalde. On the 20th of January the Liberals of Penasanda de Bracamonte acted also in a menacing manner, to which the people replied : a battalion of Royal Volunteers left Madrid to restore submission• The two Castiles are the great seat of insurrection: these provinces, says the Moniteur, were nearer to the focus of the revolution ; it was in them " the revolution had at one time assembled its most faithful satellites, and they have left fatal Daces of their power." The KING is stated, in accounts of the 26th ult. to be so se riously indisposed as to be confined to his chamber.— The nature of his illness is not mentioned, but an as surance is given that the other members of his family enjoyed perfect health. WEST INDIES. The Cornwall, Captain Morrison, which has arrived at Liverpool from Demerara, called off Barbadoes on the 4th January, and brought dispatches for Govern ment. Martial law was to cease at Demerara on the Bth January. The holydays had passed over in a peace able manner; but everything was very dill!. It has already been mentioned, that eight of the ringleaders concerned in the late insurrection on Frontier Estate, Jamaica, were executed ; the chief was one Watson; of him the overseer, in his letter to the pro prietor, speaks in the following terms : " The head cooper, Charles Watson, was the man I placed most confidence in of any on the Estate; and had such an attempt been made without my having time to get the assistance of white people, he would have been the first I should have called to stand between your property and destruction ; indeed his conduct since I have been upon the Estate fully justified me in forming, however erroneously, such an opinion of him." The following is an extract of a letter from Jamaica, to a Gentleman in Edinburgh : " St. Andrew'3, Jamaica, Dec. 29, 1823. " We are preparing to mount guard in all the parishes, some having already commenced. In St. Mary's, the negroes have been undermining a fort, and taking out the ammunition. Ten have been condemned, and will be hanged next week. Their intention was to massacre all the whites, with the exception of Ladies and Medical Gentlemen. This information transpired this morning." DEPARTURE OF THE KING FOR WINDSOR• BRIGHTON, THURSDAY, FE3._l2, TIMES: O'CLOCK, P.M. His MAJESTY, precisely at half-past 12 o'clock, P.M. left the Pavilion, accompanied, in his travelling carriage, by the Marquis of CONYNGFIAM, and Sir WILLIAM KNIGHTON, not for Carlton Palace, but to proceed di rect to Windsor. The Military, the .58th Infantry and the 7th Royal Hussars, were drawn up, extending front the south gtte of the Palace, with the colours, bands, drums, trumpets, and bugles of the several corps, together with a loyal and crowded assemblage of the town's people. The national anthem was played as the SOVEREIGN passed, with the usual ceremony of lowering the colours and presenting arms. In the midst of our rt,;:ets, we have the consolation to know that his MAJESTY left us in perfectly re-established health. The whole of the Royal Establishment, excepting those who are usually entrusted with the care of the Palace, will have kit us by the end of the week. Prior to the departure of the KING for Windsor, his MAJESTY, with the Marquis of CONYNGHAM and Sir WILLIAM KNIGHTON, proceeded in his travelling car riage, at noon, to the Marine Parade, to survey the Chain Pier, from which his MAJESTY returned to the Palace in about half an hour, and, without alighting, departed as above stated. Yesterday Mr. Secretary CANNING transacted business at the Foreign Office. Yesterday morning the Duke of CLARENCE arrived in town front I3usby Park. Sir ARTHUR CLARKE, M.D. is arrived at the Spring garden Hotel, from Dublin. HORACE Twtsi, Esq. M.l'. ims been aprointe.:l Coun sel to the Admiralty, in the room of TimmAs JEutis, Esq. who is now one of the Puisne Judges of Che.ter. Aaatear.—Sir W. and Lady ItuatuuLu and family, at the Pulte ney Hotel, Albermir,o-stre e t. DE?aatuars—The Earl and Countess of Wu:Ktow and family, from head's hotel, Lower Grosvenor-street, fur TotibridgeWells; Honourable TtiumrsaN VANNACk, front ditto, for Suffolk ; H..W. HAnatrn, F.A. front ditto, fur Liteat Brick-Li:l, Ducks. 13,1T11, PEBRU.IRY 10. 1.1,T0N is drawing bumpers every night at the Th ea . tre; YiwNc, is to succeeJ him ; nothing but London stars will attract here. Sprie,;'; late antagonist, Langan, was in the Pit the other eveni ng and being recognised, he was quickly surrounded by all the Gessio n ,' tge the Foiscy from the boxes and the gallery, for a peep at Lang an . Langan had a benefit at Stevenson's Ride, which brought hin t i n I:I. 18s. at 34. per nob. Some good sets to took place between L ab . can and Dan Ford. Ford is finite a young man, but very prutratiq in the pugilistic art, and, for weight and inches; is fit to ewer th e ring with any hero of the fist in England. Air. C. Newcombe a .,d Dick Gulley (brother to the celebrated Gulley) also exhibite'l mu t e skill and courage ; and a young Gentleman from Prieto] evinced si:perior science in a long set-to and rally with Langan. L ang , spe:l:s in high terms of Spring, and says, if ail had acted as nom - ably as him, it would have been a better battle. Like a t.... Irishman, he is so delighted with Spring's conduct, that he swez- s he would rather fight him than any other man living. MIRACULOUS ESCAPE. We have seldom had to record a more miraculn ut escape than on the present occasion. About twelv e o'clock this day, part of the house of Mr. Braggs, baker, of Drury-litre, and part of an adjoining one, tell with most dreadful crash. The houses were inhabited In lodgers, all or whom had families, but strange to sal-, with the excepti.r of one person, none of them w ere hurt. Several men employed in removing the rubili s i from the vacuity made by the pulling down of tw,, houses next door, jest at the moment the accident to„•k place, had gone on the street, and they also escaped-- The anxiety of the crowds of persons who wele difficulty kept from approaching the re maining totterirg fabric, may be better felt than described ; hundreds sacra watching the gradual opening of the a pc! tures. u•••;I at length means were adopted to prevent further miscii Wednesday night, Mr. WILLI.% Nts, the Ring's N1.... , - senger, left town with dispatches from Earl BAT/1151tST, as S.:eroary for the Colonial Department, for Corfu, in reply to those received a few days ago. announcing the melancholy tidings of the suil.les death of the Right Hon. Sir THOMAS Mammas, his Majesty's Le:d High Commissioner of the lonian Islands. RICHARD FRANKLIN POUSSETT, Esq. his M AJESTIS Vice-Consul for Buenos Ayres, sailed on Monday fr orn Falmouth, in the Chichester packet, for his destination. We have received Gibraltar Papers to the 26th of Januat y, from which we cony the following article of intelligence respecting the adjacent parts of Spain : DIALAOA, JANUARY 2.—OUr Governor, M. de Zambrona, has is sued a Proclamation, in 13 Articles, enacting all we could wish for, under existing circumstances. The object of this Proclamation is to prevent the recommencement of the infamous scenes which we have so often witnessed ; and the occasion of its being issued, is the info:- mation obtained here that several of the Constitutional Revolutionists in Gibraltar, intended to creep into this and other parts of the pro vince, with a view to sow the seeds of discord and anarchy. Oae of these goes by the name of Lancha, and is hut too well known by the tears he has caused to he shed. The thirteen Articles contaia excellent Police regulations; and by the second, every person is authorized to arrest Lancha and Muchonchini, for which purpose the military are to give the requisite assistance. The 6th directs the permanent Court Martial to assemble, in order that any one at tempting to disturb the public or private tranquillity may he tried in a few hours ; and the last states that the examination of the mea sures detailed in the Proclamation will not be recurred to again, a the Government will take care they are enforced. Letters from Rome contain the gratifying intelligence that Christianity is making rapid progress in the Eastern kingdom of Tonquin. The Mandarins of the Ist and 2d class favoured the labours of the Missionaties, land protected them in the exercise of their religion, the disturbers of which were severely punished. The learned melt in particular, it is said, were easily in structed and broke their idols in pieces after a few con ferences. In June, 1821, a wholedistt iet had sent deputies to request instructors in the Christian Faith. The fact of the learned men being the first to embrace Christii nity is at once an additional proof of its being the Reli gion most suited to enlightened minJs, and a promising circumstance, as the pride of fancied knowledge and the dread of losing the importance which it conferred, have frequently been found the chief obstacles to the adoption of the pure and vivifying doctrines of the Christian Faith. It has been decided that the Magistrates attending Special Sessions are exempt front arrest for debt. At the last Sessions under the Insurrection Act, an appli cation was made on behalf of a Magistrate of the county of Limerick, to be discharged from the custody of the City Sheriffs. The application was opposed by the plaintiff in the writ, and by Connsel on the part of the Sheriffs. The hearing occupied part of two days, when Mr. BLACKBURNE, in pronouncing the judgment of the Court, ordered that the defendant should forthwith be discharged from the custody of the Sheriffs, on the ground that all persons bona fide engaged in the ad ministration of the justice of the country, were exempted in their persons from the execution of civil process, in a:- tending at, and in going to or returning from the Cour t. ELOPEMENT.—The Nobility and Gentry in the neigh bourhood of Grosvenor-square have for ten days pa,t been considerably agitated in mind and conversation is consequence of the elopement of a young Lady of con siderable fortune, and not less beauty and accomplish ments. It appears that for some years last a Lieute nant L—, belonging to one of the EASE India Este blishmentc, and Miss N—, resident in a street not far from North Audley-street, have been attached to each other. About three weeks ago the Lieutenant came home from his regiment, and declared his pretea, sions to the friends of the Lady, but was repulsed. .% leans however, were devised to bring about a meeting, by the lovers, and List Sunday they met in the Par k, but the Lady's father surprised them, and after addressing some hostile language to the young soldier, took his daugl''er home. Still the lovers were determined not to be baffled, and a plan was arranged accordingly. The young lady, while walking with her father in Bloomsbury-srvare, entered a house close hy, passed through a small lawn or garden behind, out into the street ar,ain, where the Lieutenant aas in waitir.g, and both entered a coach and drove oil. The father, on hearing these tiiingF, surpoed naturally they had taken the North road ; therefore, witi,out returning, posted that way, but cord obtain no chi.: to the fititives, who, on his return, he by some st;a:agem ascertained were about to start om the neighbourhood of Golden-square, whither, at an early hour, he repaired yesterday morning, and sur ixis:ed the parties. ‘Ve are told, that a con - est to :ix place bet‘Neeti the father and the Lieutenant; but the result was, the lady was conveyed to her father's mansion. FlltE.—At halt-past nine this morning, a fire broke out in the workshop of a cabinet-maker, nyder's-ceurt, Leicester-fields, the whole of which, with a large stock, were consumed. Much damage was do ne t o t he back of the dwelling-house before it was extinguished. ;MINING hartaacANcr:.--Co l .per Ore* for sale at Redtutlt.—Wh. Ahr-ham, 232. Crenver,l27. NVh. ('trance, 108. Oatfield, 83. Wh. Sarah, 22. NN'h. Bul/tr, 347. Wh. Wauchamp, 106. Fowey Cone cols, 233. Wh. Speedwell, ::02. liinner Bosom, 67. Levant, 65. • Botal:ack, 62. Trannack, 62. Penbvrthy Crofts, 59. Wh. Bolton, 28. Wh. iklward Wh. IL:mory, 120.—Tota1, 1378 ton*. DU j uri face wa! ree fro tor bai im ful tht ple cal we ti