Star. — London, England, 1815-03-08 00:00:00

IN vor-sawii- --- . Petitions, and resolved, that the Petition to the Lords should be given to Lord Gaslnoue to present, and that to the Commons should be presented by Sir F. BURDETT. The Petitions read echoed the Resolit tions. After the last Resolution had passed— Sir FRANCIS Buaricrr said, he had never, in the whole course of his life, had the satisfaction of meet ing so large and respectable a body of the people as he had then the honour of addressing, and he had never met any assemblage of the people upon an oc casian, in many respects, more gratifying . than the present ; though he considered the occasion as of minor importance to the great question of freedom and liher:y of the country.—(44/0/ause). He had never stood before a body of his constituents before, ei;!i'4 - in:; from them so widely as on the present occa sion. There were many topics which had been in troduced into the Resolutions, which, there had not • been time to examine, and which could not be esa tr.ii:ed with any advantage in a meeting such as that w u; - topics involving in them many considerations of domestic and political economy; involving also a:m:.,st all the cultivation and commerce of the coun try, and upon which many thinking. persons 44 di - voted much time, without coming to pny_direct cots clu,inits. He h ad, therefore, as the assembly might have observed ? only held iiP his haw,' for one of me' Rcsoluticns, that *whiclonsplaitted Or* source of all the evils of •thi• country; the kit* b ate stte of the Representation.—[Here ihenoittift. ble Baronet entered into' a description - Atli Houlti, CoMitionp )• into which we do not think it right Co; °Row tin]., The Honourable Baronet continued es he had been .-.1c4 to expect much reprobation from the , meeting .ai. sembled ; and why forsooth ? Why,tecause he h i d never attended the debates in the House over dr, , way. In this be had not deceived his cOnstituents.-1- He had told them, that he never would lend ,hiniself to keep up, the mockery of debate ft was a farCe Which had long been carried on, but, which was In. come too expensive to be indulged in any longem-t -(Loud ape laure).-y-They had been told that the .inte rest of the national debt, which at the commence ment of the present King's reign was only four mil lions, had now increased to forty millions—this was li burthen too great for the State; yet there were persons who divided the country into interests, the commercial interest, and the manufacturing inte rest, and the agricultural interest, as though all • interests were not ultimately the same; each was made jeakes of the other; and the weight of taxation, which it was agreed was too heavy for them all to bear, each wished to shift from his own shoul ders on those of his neighbour.—(Loud aitltiawe).-.- He h.. d l .ng since determined never to go into that }louse of which he had spoktn, unless to lay before them their own doings, or to carry the complaints of the people there—he would never go there to carry on the mockery of discussion, and not being fond of bad hours, he had of late :o.:3eilkeil himself alto gether. (Llash:tr and apt/ zus:.) The safety of going there might be questicned—a very pro mising and patriotic young man (Mr. Lambton) had last night complained that the House was sur rounded by troops—that young Gentleman had, perhaps. caul-el back his memory to his reading, and supposed those were the times when the House was in danger of being over-awed by a standing army ; but has error had been concealed by the Mi nister, who informed bim, that the troops were ne. cessary to protect those faithful stewards of the people—to protect the representatives of the people against the people, and that by an army supported and paid by the people. A Minister—No! not a Minister —a Secretary of the Treasury, or he knew not what —at least, a person in office—Mr. Robinson, the mover of the measure, said, what was not necessary, that he did not propuse any thing which would be a positive good, it was only the smaller evil. The country had now never any thing 'but a choice of evils. Every one who went into the House over the way, appeared to go in with a Pandora's box, which was opened, that the country might be indulged with a choice of a charming variety of evils.—(4- piaute.)—lt was a pity that the spirit of freedom, which he then recognized, should be spent on com paratively trifling objects ; it was of no avail to re sist petty grievances, the only way was to strike at the source of them. In complaining of this evil, the nation was like the poor wretch who was put to the torture of the lash, when the executioner began to , E T , the sufferer said," a little higher if you please," and then 46 a little lower," and y still he did not like it at last. The executioner losing his• patience ex. I claimed, 44 I never knew such an unreasonable fellow in my life, I can't please you hit where I wi11."....(4 laugh.)—The evil'was not in the place struck; but in being flogged at all. The Income Tax had been , opposed, yet under proper regulations he thought it a very good tax. He did not complain of the tax, but of the votes of those who did not represent the people—not of a particular tax, but of taxation without representation. A sum which came out of the toes into the pockets of the taxers, was the cause of. additional taxation, just as a dishonest servant would cheat his master of two . or thrstiineasto obtain a perquisite of sitpence. PerhassAbe, slims paid to the dependants on Govenunrit.trapAint a few millions, yet they drew' many millions, front the people. It was asked, what would be saved, if .211 sinecures and unmerited pensions were abolished.? Why much :note than the actual slim so paid. That sum was like the water whiCh Was poured into the dry sucker of a pump : it 'was not much, but it was the, means of drawing up all that which was in the wed.-- (Loud alsldasua.)—The Honourable Baronet then entered into an argument to prove that if the loaf were reduced from Is: 6d. to 6d. and other ar. , ticks declined in proportion, the amount of nominal taxes remaining the same, the real and actual taxes would be trebled ; and so. of the dividends paid no. sninally, as when provisions were high, but in reality three times as much. He wished the landholder to be left at liberty to make as much of his capital as ; be could : he wished to remove all restrictions upon internal economy ; he wished to see freedom of trade, and, manufactures, and agriculture, and .above all political freedoui. But what would produce all did, why nothing but. a free Parliament I to which the people were as-much entitled as the - King was to. his crpwn. This dearest right cif the people. was with. held by,tho tax-clamber over the .way r•hut he hoped. the people would stifle them with petition, for their. sights and. hberties. The • country.' eoold'not sr* ,wbat it was; it was like a ilai 'awl; fit *pit writhe and turn to seek casein a change et risitioN but that ease could only be temporarn a rsdicisi change must take place. The principles of *ask .who opposed then were in a nut-shell—a tax-chliMber and a standing army. Their principles, on the con trary, ought to be Petition I Petition I Petition ! (nit Speech was followed by long continual atlasoations.) . Thanks were then voted to Mr. A. Baring, Mr. Lambton, and Sir F. Burdett. The latter returned thanks, and said, although he happened to differ with them in opinion, he did not the less esteem this additional proof of their confi dence in him. Thanks were also voted to the High Bailiff, and the Meeting adjourned. Many persons signed the Petitions on the Corn Bill as well as those tin Parliamentary Reform. When Sir F. Burdett left the King's Arms, he got into a hackney coach, the horses of which were taken off, and he was drawn away by the populace. The Meeting was supposed to consist of about 20,000 persons. 41 ). I ' I 1 ; • 1 • PARLIAMENTART PROCEEDINGS. HOUSE OF LORDS, MARCH T. The London Dock Bill was read a third time and passed. The Duke of GLOUCESTER, in presenting a Petition against the Corn Bill from the Parish of St. Dunstan, Stepney, obser ved, that he decidedly agreed with the sentiments expressed in the Petition: • , Petitions to the same effect were presented from the Parishes of St. George. and St. Clement Danes, the Liberty of the Roils, Nevicastle-upon-Tyne, Wakefield, Southampton, Tewkesbury, Exeter, and Stockport. • The Duke of NORFOLK wished to learn from the Noble Earl omosite (Liverpool) whether any intelligence bad been re. ceived by Minister, of the ratification of the Treaty with the United States ? Tbe•Eacl of LIVERPOOL said, that it was impossible that any such intelligence could yet reach this country.--Adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS. Petitions 'from Ottmfermline, Stepney (signed by six thousand person.); Pi:woolen Ward, Exeter (signed by twenty thousand), Newcastle4nsder-Line, Surrey; Sr. Andrew's, llolbetn, signed by upwards of 4080, and several other places, were presented against the Corn Bill. Sir E. BRIDGES moved for leave to bring in a Bill for the better maintenance and support of the Poor.—Leave given. The Royal Marines BM was read a second time, and commit ted for te-morraw. The Lime and Tobacco Bills went through Committees. Re ports to -JUL rrow.. A Peti, ion from Newbury was presented by Mr. Snow Le r zee e, praying a Reform is Parliament.. TILE BIRNIINGNAM CANAL. Mr. LITTLETON orpmed the second reading of • this on the ground that It would not afford the convenience and faci lities to the public wh:ch it had been contended wank' arise from it. He moved, that instead of now, the till should be read a second time this day six month... Mr. F. Lewis, Lord (3. L. Cowen, Mr. PROTII2IIOC, GIDDY, Sir C. MORDAN r, and Mr. DOUGLA), wished the Bill should go to a Committee. After a few words from Mr. LITTLETON, that Ocutleman withdrew his antentheunt, and the Bill was real a second tanio and committed. TIIE AND FLEET PRISONS. Mr. BENNETT rose, pursuant to his notice given on a former night, for a Committee to inquire into the state of the Fleet, Marshalsea, and King's Behch Prisons; and the first which he wished to bring mi l der the consideration of the House was the King's Bench. l Ou the Ist of October last, there were no less tGan 837 persons in that prison ; and in that prison there was no allowance whatever, either of fOod, clothing. or fuel. The fees on each prisouer, were Al. 31. and he fklund, from the returns before the House, that the fees of the Marshal of the Court of King's Bench, under whose controul this prison was, •amounted to between twelve and thirteen hundred pounds a-year. The next Prison he would allude to was the Fleet this prison was under the controul of the Lord Chan cellor. By the last returns, it appeared that there were upwards of 700 persons confined in it, though the prison was originally calculated to accommodate only 250 ; and he understood the salary of the War den to be something about £l9OO. The next prison he should allude to was the Marshalsea; this prison was appropriated to the Admiralty. In this, prison the most extreme cases of distress prevailed. The Honourable Member particularly alluded to the case of a prisoner who expired in the prison about two years ago, and who was said to have expired for want. In this prison the prisoners had no allowance whatever ; the fees were 10s. and the nominal jailor, Sir J. B. Burgess; he understood, received a salary of 4500,. whilst his deputy received 460. Having its. ted these Circumstances, he should not now detain ; the ,HoUse longer, • but conclude with moving for a Committee to inquire into the state of those prisons, 'and. to report to the House from time to time 'such lin , :provements as they thought might be made there in.—This motion was agreed to, and a Committee :appointed. FOREIGN RELATIONS. Mr. WHITBREAD said he should, on to-Mor. row se'nnight, submit a mction to the House on the subject of our Foreign Relations; and thereby giv e the Noble Lord: (Castlereagh) an opportunity of fa vouring the Honzie . .and the country with some infor mation on that important subject. Being now he would ask the Right Honourable Gentleman (Mr. H. Addington) whethir he had made any inquiries into the caseuf,a Portuguese, mated Coraia, who was said to hove been sent out ,of the kingdom five years ago, under the Alien, Act, by .order of the Se cretary of State. Mr. M. ,ADDINGTOI4' repeated what he had laid on a ((yaer night, via..that.thictrausaction had not taken place under the administration of Lord Sidmouth, but under Mr. Ryder ; and he was con vinced that the Gentleman whose name. he had men. timed would be the last person to have stretched the Alien Act to any improper extent against any indi vidual ; and W Mr. Coraia had been sent out of the kingdom, it was his opinion he had been rightly sent out. Mr. WHITBREAD said he was by no means satisfied with this answer, or with the eulogium Which the Right Honourable Gentleman had uttered on his friend, the late Secretary ; more especially when he considered in what manner the Alien Act had been alluded to by that Right Honourable Gentle man, and by a Noble Lord (Sidmouth), in their cot.- 'respondence with Sir J. Duff. Not being' satisfied, he therefore gave notice, that he should, on thenight on which an - Honourable Friend of his would move for other papers connected with the Alien Act, also move for the correspondence which had taken place relative to sending Mr. Corals au of the kingdom. On . the Order of the Day for the County Gaols Chaplains Aillsoing into a Committee-ft., ..., • „ Mr. D. GIDDY proposed that the provisions of the Bill sh - ould be extended to Chaplains of Houses , of Correction, as well as County Gaols. , The Bill then vent into a Committee, and on the motion of Sir T. BARING, . the salary was axed at £lOO per annum. The proposition of Mr. D. - Gamy, Ifor extending the provisions of the Bill to 1-loues of Correction, was also adopted, the salary to the latter being limited to ,C5O per annum. The other cLmses were agreed to, and the Report ordoted to be receiv ed to-morrow. _ . . Mr. PRESTON moved for leave to bring in a gcon o t i in t g h e e nt ri r g e h m ts ai a ti n d d ers, interests a" a for Qf t i l i e li bec o te r r p p res Z vin rvation persons having estates in remainder and reversion.— Leave given. On the Report of the Bank Restriction Bill being brought lip— ilLr. GRENFELL proceeded to make some ob servations on the Report of the Bullion Committee of last Sessions, from which it appeared, he said, that though the price of bullion, last year, f.. 11 '2O per Cent. the issue of hank paper had increased. lie denied that the state of our foreign exchange, or of the price of bullion could ever lie , judged of by the issue of bank paper. That these circumstances never * guided the issue of Bank of England paper, but that its fluctuation was caused by tha greater or less issue of paper by country banks, and, therefore, that the increase of Bank of England paper last year was owing to the failure of country banks, and the with drawing of country bank paper from circulation, in consequence of such failures. The Honourable Member then proceeded to take a review of the state of the country at present, and contended that with oer present prospects our metallic currents , ought to have been 'restored, instead of which we had a forced paper currency, bullion was at 15 per cent. abovo its real value, and our foreign exchanges were 15 per cent. against us. From these circumstances he could only infer, that the coinage of the country was de preciated, and at a discount, and that the only way to cure the evil would be to return to our old system at as early a period as possible, and again restore our old circulating medium, viz. a mixed currency of coin and paper : with this impression on his mind, he should, on the third reading of the Bill, move for an amendment similar to that which he had moved on a former night. Mr. ROSE acknowledged it would be cicsirable for the Bank to return to the old system of.cash pay ments ; but that at present was impossible. The Honourable Gentleman who had given notice of his intention to move an amendment on the third reading of the Bill, had acknowledged that the Bank price of bullion was above the Isl.nt price considerably; there fore, if the Bank was now to coin guineas, trey would no sooner be issued, than they would be bought up and melted dawn again. The Honourable Gentle men also forgot what large sums in specie we were still under the necessity of sending abroad : above a million of dollars went monthly to Portugal ; and we were daily sending numerous sums abroad. If the Bank were to coin '2O millions of guineas to-morrow, under the present circumstances, in a month not 100,000 of them would be in circulation. The Bank therefore would be put to a very great expense, and the Public would derive no benefit from it. Mr. HORNER did not now mean to enter at length into the question ; but he should, in a future stage of the Bill, propose a Clause for the resumption of Cash Payments at as early a period as possible; but he could not, however, avoid entering his protest against the Bill altogether; which now, after Peace had arrived, proposed to continue the'Restrictionsin the same form as they had been during the War.— The present Bill proposed to provide for the revival of Cash Payments in 15 months, if the Bank should then be in a state to do so. This was a mere.fallacy, for could it be supposed that the Bank, if left to itself, would ever resume Cash Payments ; or give up a system so beneficial as the Restrictions were to them? Neither himself, or those who acted with him, ex pected the Bank should immediately resume Cash Payments ; but he wished Parliament to say that they should, at some particular time, do so. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, it should be recollected, that though the sitiii ° don. of the country was very much improved within these few months, we had not yet concluded peace with Amt-rica; and though we had concluded peace .with'the Continent, it had as yet only operated as a preliminary treaty. When 'it was considered what was the state of the Continent even at present, it was astonishing that the state of exchange as related to rps should have improved at all. It bad, however, already improved X 25 per . cent t in our, favour, and. a further improvement of 10 per cent. Might be ex pected. Such an improvement would turn the ex change in our favour, and might do much towards' the resuming of cash payments. Mr. J. P. GRANT was but little Linguine. that the present measure would produce any good. ' He should'cxpect, that at the ekpi ra ti on of 15 months the Right Hon. Gentleman would come down with a proposition for the further continuation of the 'ke strictions. The Report was then agreed .to, and the Bill or. dered to be read a third time on Thursday. t The House then went into a Committee on the Mutiny Bill. Lord PROBY complained of Officers 'being dis missed the service by the power cf thetrown without their having been tried by Courts Martial, He be lieved he should first have moved.for papers to prove the existence of the evil ; but the dismissal of the Officeis of the loth 'misers, in consequeice of she trial of Colonel Quentin, was sufficient to prove the existence of that of which he complaided. Hewes convinced it never was the intention of the Legislatur to vest a power in the Crown to drive a man from his profession, with a stigma on him, without his ever having been tried. But lawyers told him, that cus tom made the law. The cases of which he complained were, for bringing charges against superior Officers, for what was considered ungentlemanlike charges ; and for being absent without leave. All these cases, he thought, were more fitted for the investigation of Courts Martial. In proof of this, he instanced the invariable practice of our Navy, from which no man is dismissed without being tried. The same was the CM in both the Austrian aad Russian armies. To remedy this evil, he moved a clause-0s That no Officer should be dismissed the service otherwise thin by the sentence of a General Court Martial." . Lord PALMERSTON Would not have wondered' bid a proposition of this nature come from some of those theorists who are .:onstoitly propoitiaw,alter, tions. But he was surprised that it shoOd have co, from the Noble Lord, and that, too, without his I. ing any grounds for such an f•ntroacllment on 0 prerogative of the Crown, pc , . now es.,:sted ha t.. first time. For when the liroks of t!:T. prereght s were circumscribed, the Cr0....1 w. s Lut deprived this power "which the Noble Lord wise. d to tak from it. lie conceived this p ~ o sed alit, ation woul tend to destroy the discipline of hie army, and alto its telatioos towards the °tiler parts of the State,- Besides, .he could not con icier holding a comm . sion as a sA•t of freehold preps: ty. He conunsle that Ouse v:ere many cases in which the Kier{ woe! be justified in dismissing Oilicers for things thp could not prf:perly be termed military offence.. H instanced disaffection as a case in which it might b very improper to declare before a Coort•marrial I WAY in which tlto Crown obtained that inl3rmatior Another case was that of complete incapacity i an °dicer to discharge the duties of his statior.— Therq...3.Yele- Uraux4inproExicties. th,st an Office might telfuiTtY &against the rules of so c iety honour, that could not beigought under the militar law For ifitse reasont "was warranted in rec• ro mending that the proposition of the Noble Le should be rejected. But this was no new prepositicli for Sir R. IValpOle in' lilt, recommended to ti. King to dwoiss Lord Cobbs's] and the Duke of B:I ton from the command of their reriments, far 11.-1. political conduct in Parliament. consequence c this, a propositism like that of. for Noble Lord \;.• recommended Palls:nem ; but, after the n.,- mature deliberation, was rejected.. He (Lord Pal. merston) under:toed the Noble Lord was in error re. specting the Navy ; for he was told that the king did possess the power of di6ntissin7 Officer.; from ttv Navy without the sentence of Couris Mhrtial. Bat the, adoption of sucb a measiire would be injorions to the service, and to the good of the State. The Noble Lord had made out no case to justify the adoption of his measure ; and he hoped the Committee would reject it. • Mr. BENNET stated, that he had known Reg'. mental. Courts Martial, the Members of which were not sworn, nor even the witnesses examined nn oath. He had also known ISO lashes given for what was not now a punishable offence in the Army. it was only by the discussions of those theorists, described by the Noble Lord, that they had been shamed out of the cruelties practised in the Army ; and the exit. tence of which were, at the time, denied. . . Mr. WARD stated, that there was a power in the Crown to dismiss Officers from the Navy without the sentence of any Court Martial. Mr. TIERNEY could not de otherwise than sup. port the proposition of the Noble Lord as a broad constitutional question and principle; for it surely was contrary to the spirit of our Constitution, to punish a man without his being brought to trial. An Officer, charged with disaffection, should be tried by some Court or other ; for unless a m.m is tried, his character might be whispered away. The °dicers of the 10th. Hussars were made their own execu tioners : for could it be supposed, that a man would remain in the service with a mark on his forehead, that he had been dismissed from his last regiment fir being ignorant of the first rules of subordioati , 4l. Gross injustice seal in that case s h ewn , i n pun i s hi ng 26 Gentlemen without a trial, whose ebaraeters in the army were unimpeached before. The Corn- Mender-in-Chief did certainly, in the kindest manner, endeavour to soften the rigour of their sentences, and to induce them rather to remain in the service than to quit it. Where could have been the possible inconvenience of allowing these Gentlemen a chance of justifying themselves before a Courtanartial? Colonel WOOD instanced the case of five or six officers of the 85th Regiment, who preferred a charge against their Colonel (Ross) 'for which they were dis Missed.. Several others remained who hid aided and abetted them ' • and the same system of cabal and intrigue continued till, three years ago, the Comman der in Chief was obliged to have recourse to a gene ral removal of all the officers of that corps, and re placing them with others. Now there was not a more efficient or gallant regirnent in the service than the 85th. Ho read the regulations as to incapacity, by which it is ordered that they may be devrived of *their commissions. He apprehended they could not properly try any man for incapacity. He thought this motion ill.tirned, since we had now arrived at the end of a long war, in which the British army bad dis• tinguished itself as much toe its discipline' as for its heroic achievements... To the excellence of the regu lations of the Commander iu Chia -was that disci pline owing. . Mr. TIERNEY saw no aifficulty in proving the Incapacity clan officer before a Court Martial. Mr. MA.SUTTCiN .thosiglit, that if this . prepnsi; lion 'vete asiopttd, itoottld not meet• the cases is lanced. 47 1 ? ere was , in, his opinion, a shorter way, ndihat . iis by addressing, the Crown to redress the kw) , defile to indrviduals in khe way complained of 1 , the Nuble•Lord, and'alici to dismiss the advisers ,_ l. nialr:eneh iilitlatiee.' Whet the Parliament, in the reign of King William, regulated the laws respecting the army, it left .the power over commissions as a prerogative of the Crown. This proposition would destroy that prerogative, apd 4 , therefore, be would vote•against the Clause of Noble Lord. Mr. W. WYNNE' tiai convinced that the House should exert its constitutional jealousy to rut the army on a different footing than that on which a had hitherto been: kir the 29 millions proposed for the peace est'abliohntent augured the keeping up of a large military force, and consoquently keeping up the influence of the Crown. • on this account, he w. 1% decidedlyfavnumble to the Motion of the Noble L(;r , ...• • Lord PROSY's clause was then negatived wita out a division. Mr. WHIT — BREAD called the attention of the Noble Lord (Palmerston) to a clause in the Mutiny Act, which gave a power to the Commander-in-Chief to transport soldiers to cond,•mned regiments, on their confession before a Mag.strate of their being deser ters. He hoped the Noble Lnrd would take steps to remedy so en, , rmous a poser. Lord PALMER3TON said, this clause had been introduted to prevent frauds, by persons endeavouring to obtain the rewards tor the discovery of deserters. • Mr. W. WYNNE wished to know if any steps sve:e. 4itken to prevent duels arising out of Courts.martali by some strong mark of disapprobation being put un practice so subversive of all discipline and justice. Few men would stand forward to bring perms t° ~, ~. I' i