Star. — London, England, 1802-03-17 00:00:00

T 1 PARLIAMENTARr PROCEEDINGS. HOUSE OF LORDS, TUESDAY, MARCH s 6. Tbc Caste of Leddaa .. Modelle was again argued. and ilk poftpooed to Tburfday. HOUSE OF COMMONS. The order was then made for appointing the Committee, and all the Lords who had attended this Sawn were appointed Members of the fame. Adjourned. MT. W. BOOTLI brought lap a DM to oblige Overfeers of the Poor to keep a Rieke, of Par& Apprentices. Read a brit and adaa to be read a frond time on Friday, and to be Mr. Sisson brought up a 11111 for more efcaually &tin pithing and relieving the Mdoitrions Poor; for controlling the Accounts of Overfeers, sod far better preferring the Lives of adjudged Ballads. Read aMt and ordered to be mad ak coed time todnorrow fortnight, and to be printed. Mr. ALIZANDZI be= Report of the Committee es the Marine Forces NM which was agreed to, and the Bell ordered to beetled a third time tasserrow. The Report of the Osmealtme so the Men Tamfportation Bin was brought up, sad die BM was ordered to be read a third Note tsdnorrow. Mr. Mdrr Coatis, porfuant to the Refolittians of a Committee, applied far leave to bring in a Bio for emending the thud for the payment of a Loan keened* granted to the Merchants of the Wands of Gs:godsend St. Vincent's. Leave Insa In Committee of the whole Hoek, the Chairman was di redid to mans for brave to bring In a BM to continue • for a tenger time, and marl the A& ihr the his =fac ture of Sarah from Ries sod Parises from( . The Re port was wand sok reediest esesaltruw in p Comenlitst of the simians/ifs, k was refolved to move for leave to kin a Mtn mined the Laws felt regulating the Mat Limo Tads. The Reset was Wm& up, agreed to, and Bin ordered. Mt. FOSTSI gave notice, that he would. to-morrow, move for a writ fora new Member to fens for the cbcat's County, io the room of Lord C.aßlecoots Tilt PICKS OV Mr. Manilas Burrou gave notice of st Motion relative to the claims of His Royal Highnefs the Prince of Wales. He named to-morrow fennight, (this day week), as the day on which he &cold make fome Motion relative to this fubjea. TDB DVS* OW BEDFORD. Mr. Foz rofe, and after a confiderable paufe, in which he appeared to be much agitated, addreded the Houfe in nearly the following terms:—The - motion I am about to make is Co moth of courfe that in common inflances I would not be jullified in introducing it by any preface. If the calami tous event which has lately happened had only robbed me of a friend, I mutt have fought another opportunity of teßifying my affeaion, my venera tion, and my grief. Even now !hall by no means give vent to my private feelings, nor think of ex preffing my fenk of the loft I have fuftained. But the noble Perfon who is now no more was a eharaaer fo extraordinary and Co meritorious, that if I were not to deviate from the nfual forms of proceeding, I lhould'be wanting in due refpea to his memory, and I believe I &mild difappoint the expeaations • of the public. Never did any event of this nature excite Each general regret, the deepeft grief per-, wades every rank, the whole community feems im preed with the death of a parent. It is from a eonviaion that a public loft has been (Whined that I now rife to fay a few words, and I trail that every one prefent /haring in that conviaion I Sag be heard with indulgence. (A loud cry of hoar I hoar I hear!) However Sir, I than not detain you long. This is not tie pla ce, and certainly not' the occafion e to detail the events of bislife, or to deferibe the features of his charaaer.. Such was the admiration excited by his virtues that, to expatiate upon them at large were it proper, would he unnecelary. He is as deeply and univerfally lamented as ever any fubjea was, and he mutt long live in the vecollettion of a grateful pofterity.-- There was fomething fo peculiar and firiking in his charaOer, it was marked by fo many ditlinaive excellencies, that to do jußice to it is impotfible,_ gib bat at the fame tins* all panegyric is needlefs , . (Mr. Fox was here much affeited. • He continued) I will not give way to the warmth of friendfhip, qgo into that minutenelk which his many good ualities would demand, and in which on another occafion I might be indulged. Suffice it to fay, that his lots is to be the more deplored, as he was car ried off at a period of life when he was young enough to enjoy all its bleffings, and vigorous enough to perform all its duties ; when he himfelf looked forward to years of happinefs, and when fociety might have expelled to be long benefited by his benevolence, his energy, and his wifdom. His charaCter : was formed he had palled all the dangers to which he was expofed. The pr.hlic en oyed a certainty of continuing to derive from him the benefits he was conferring, and had his lifebeen anufually long, it would have ftillgathered luffre as it advanced to its doh. Had he been fnatched away in early youth, however difireffing the event to his relatives, the public calamity would not have been fo confiderable. The fairer pro mifesare often fallacious, t' a bell founded hopesare not always fulfilled. It might have been thought that, like others, he would have plunged into dif fipation, that he would have been corrupted by flattery, that he would have bartered his princi . pies for power. His life was cut off at a moment when a certainty had been obtained of the way he would have employed it. His death deprives Co. ciety of a large furn of happinefs which he would have been the means of bellowing. Again, had his career been fully run through, our admiration and our gratitude might have been encreafed, we Mould have felt lefs acutely the pangs of regret. He would have done all the good for which he was deftined, and would have fallen maturely into the tomb. Every thing confpires to raife our wonder. His merit was the greater,not only becaufe he was entirely the work of his own hands, but becaufe virtue is greater in high nations, as it is more dif ficult, and as it embraces a wider diverfity of ob , jab. He was not fo much diffinguifhed from others either by his high birth, or opulent fortune, as by a peculiar character, which he owed entirely to the native force and vigour of his own mind.— This led him to the purfuit of utility, which be.. came the prevailing motive and the diffinguilbing chara&eriftic of all his anions. He was born to a fituation the molt difficult to keep pure the affec tions of the heart, and to cultivate the faculties of the underflandiug. When yet a child be came into the poffeffion of his honours and his fortune. He was furrounded by dangers which have perverted and corrupted the bell difpofed minds. He few nothing in the world but what was fair and invit-, ing. Under thefe circumaances, would it have been furpriling if his heart bad been hardened, if his views had become contradted, if he had wanted the common fympathies with &hers, if he had thought of little elf* but unitfual gratification I The Roman fatyrift had juffly obferved Rum calm (caw CCIIIIMIMIS in Ilk forma. But he remained untainted. He became a man fuch as the mon favourable fituations have feldom for med, Amidft profperity he learned all the virtues of adverftty. No man ever put himfelf fo low in his own ellimation, and others, fo high. I mean that a WM idea never lurked in his mind ; that indifferent about perfonal comfort, be looked only to the community; that the grand Rudy of his life was to make his fellow citizens wifer, better and happier. Nor did he, as Come who have acquired the name of philanthropifts, confider them only in the bulk, regard them merely as a body corporate. He was tenderly attached to individuals, and alive to all the charities of domeflic life. From his fla. tibn the fphere of his acquaintance was more eaten five, than almoß that of any other man, and no one did he know in whole welfare he was not intereft ed. Here he made no diainaion of ranks, and to be a fellow creature was a fufficient title to his re gard. He not only liberally of lled with his purfe, but he took a lively concern in the object of his bounty, and often communicated as much happi tefs by his friendly folicitude as by his unbounded munificence. It may be faid, that he has left be hind him no children to lament hii untimely end, and to imitate his brilliant example. But if all thofe are to be coafidered as our children whom we eherillsed and petaled, whom we have render ed happy by our good offices, and whom we have bound to us by all thetiesofaffcion and gratitude, no man ever had a family more numerous, or was more pioufly mourned. This dilconfolate circle does not comprehend only his relations, his tenants, his krvants, and his'intimate friends, but all who came within the fphere of his benevolence, all whole welfare he could in any way promoti.---( I • will not dwell upon his amiable difpofitions in private life. But there was one quality which to particularly diftinguithed him, that for the fake of others I cannot forbear from holding up this part of his ehara&er to imitation-1 mean his fleadinefs in friendfhip.. Some are warm, but vo latile and inconftant. He was wavm too, but firm and unchangeable. Never once was be known to violate any of the duties of this facred virtue— where his attachment was placed, there it re mained. Of him it might be faid what can be faid of few, that if you enjoyed his friesdfhip at the beginning of the year, you were Pure of pof feffing it, in a Rill greater degree, when the year had elapfid. His difcrimination was too quick that he fhould be blind to imperfations and vices, but his feleaion of friends was fo judicious, that he fcareely ever had occafion to difcard them.— It has fo happened that Come have crown better as they advanced in years. But it is to be heard that it is a more common cafe for men to lofe that opennefs of heart and generofity of fpirit which had formerly diftinguiffied them, and which are reckoned the attributes of youth. Here it was the reverie :—np one ever laboured more to make himfelf matter of any art or fcience ; no one in the hope of wealth, power, and immortality, ever fludied with greater ardour to excelin poetry or eloquence, than this truly noble perfon to do good. He had made this the regular difcipline of his mind; it bad become the fixed habit of hi s life. High as was the pitch he had reached, be ,daily improved.—[Afr. Fox wee ben again tomb #11,41.]-1 t would not be eafy to (peak of fuch ai man, though I had not beloved itim,.though he had not always behaved to me in fueh a manner as to fill my bofom with eternal gratitude. Upon a *anger who had heard of his name the molt af- Riding reflections mutt intrude. One great fea ture of his charader was, that he negleded what was merely ornamental. and devoted his whole at tention to public utility. This was fo much his object, that by degrees he ftudied it in his private am u femen ts. He walled that not a moment of his time Ihould be loft to fociety, and that none of his purfuits fhould have his own gratification folely in view. So totally had he given himfelf up to this object, that it became his amufement and delight, and he carried it to a length that might, if any thing, appear cenfurable, as, if it had pleated Heaven to (pare him to us Tome years longer, he would have found that his almoft princely fituation was not equal to it, and that his zeal for the moll laudable and ufeful purfuits might have involved even him in embarraffment and difficulty. He did not reek to enjoy life himfelf, but render happy his friends and fellow -creatures, and as few ever ftudied this end fo completely, fo few have ever fo completely attained it. I am not qualified to (peak of tome particulars which do the high& ho nour to his memory. But Tome who know how much the welfare of the country depends upon agricultural improvement, and how he, more than any man, has been inftrumental in promoting it, could (hew that in this re(pefl he conferred the mat folid obligations on his country. His motive I am perfectly competent to appreciate; he thought that at this particular moment it was the =oft areal purfuit inwhich he could be engaged, and I know well that if any way had been pointed out to him in which he could have been more eaten fively ufeful, be would have entered upon it With equal ardour. With regard to his political principles and opi nions, raid Mr. Fox, this is not the opportunity which I (hould take for defcanting upon them, particularly in addreffing myf,elf to this Houfe.— The call of thofe opinions, undoubtedly, was fo widely different from that of the majority of this Houfe, that inflead of forming a fubjedt of pane gyric, they might rather think it required excul pation and apology. To thole who feel fo, the only apology I can offer is, that there are tome in whom it may be remarked, that the love of public virtue is hereditary; and that if the Duke of Bedford may be thought to have carried this fentiment too far, and even to have retained fomething of a high or aritlocrmical demeanour f in times which we are taught to look upon as the heft, the times of Athens and of Rome, thofe who were moft eminent were always thofe who were Ma influenced by the example of their anceftors. It could not have been material to have remarked in one of the family of the Claudii, a partiality and predilection for the privileges of the Patri cians. It was not unnatural in a defcendant of the great Earl of Bedford and Lord Ruff& to be ani mated by a fervent love, and to difeover more than a common leaning towards the rights and li berties of the people of England. But of this I am Cure, whatever contrariety of opinion may di vide parties in this Houfe, that fteadinefs of prin ciple, and firmnefs and confiftency of charader, are qualities which, in themfelves, will ever claim, from the liberality of political difference, a Lifting approbation and 'aeon; on thofe I am confident it will be needlea for me to expatiate in the Duke of Bedford. The Hoare and the public know to what an uncommon degree they were his. I now dole what I had to offer. To thofe who look for perfedion of charader it is Tome confola- tion, in the midft of their grief, that his exit cor refponded with the part he had ailed. I have faid that difintereftednefs was the moll ftriking feature of his charader. I have raid, that in the height of profperity he had all the virtues which are fuppofed to fpring from affiidion. Another trial awaited him, and he went through it with the fame fpirit. It was now to be teen bow he would be affected by bodily torture and the near profped of diffolution. At a moment like this it would have-been excita ble if his feelings had been concentrated upon his own fufferings and the awful event which awaited him. But he was till himfelf. The welfare of others till engroffed his attention. Indifferent to his own fituation he coolly employed the few mi nutes allotted to him in making various arrange menu which might fecure the comfort of thofe who were to live when he was gone. At aft he refined his being with all the s fisrtitude and refig nation of thofe who have been held up to the imi tation of mankind. Let it not be thought, Sir, to whatever degree I may be fuppofed to feel the obligations of pri vate gratitude or affection, or in whatever light I may view sations which, whether in relation to the largea and moll important, or to the very lead concerns of my life, will endear his memory to my heart to the latell hour of it; let it not be fuppofed, that fafely as I might trufi to the gene rous indulgence of the Route to Rate m feelings of the excellent man whofe death we deplore, I have taken this unufual opportunity of exprefng them only to ftrew flowers over his grave. No, Sir I it is for the fake of impreffing his great example upon the Public; it is that men may fee it, that they may feel it, that they may talk of it in their domeftic circles, and hold it up, wherever it can be imitated, to the imitation of tbeit children.— Thus it is, that if we can fuppofe him now to look down upon us, and to be fenfible of what is tranfatting in the world, we may be fore he re joices that his death is as ufeful as was his life, since its effea is beyond all others to teach man kind, according to the philofbphical, although perhaps the too fanguine notion of an illufirious orator of antiquity, that although the aaions of vice are confined in their infiqcnce to the immjedi ate milchief, they produce virtuous lives again in its example, and is made to endure for ever.— There is a beautiful pafikge in the fpeech of a young orator, which, to be fore, favours more of the generous ardour of youth than the cool reflec tion of age—" We have this," fays he, 46 to com fort us amid( all the ills of our condition, that crime is only fuccefsful for the moment, while virtue lab for ever;and does almoft as much good ,by its mantle of by ks immediate effeas." Mr. Fox then handed up a Medea to the Speaker for a Writ for Taw;loci, vacant, 817 which of cootie was agreed to. IfINANCII Of IRELAND. Mr.- Colter moved the Order of the Day for the fecond reading of the kith Duties Continuation Bill. On the queltion for the fecond reading, Mr. Fos vea raid, that the objea of the Bill that before the Houfe was, to continue at once Eleven different Ads of Parliament and Duties to the amount of 3,000,0001. The Bill had, he raid, been brought in in inch a way, that they were complete ly taken by forprize, nor had they time to prepare for its difcuffion. Money Bills in Ireland had uni formly originated in the Committees of Supply, or Ways and Means, and became the fubjeft of (eve. ral dircuffions, but as this Bill Rood, it contained igoo articles of Duty, of which it was not poffible to difcufs one, as not one of them was enumerated in the Bill. He knew that a difiinftion had been taken between a Committee of Supply, and any other Committee of the whole Houfe; where the Supplies were wanted for the fervice of the year, and where they were not ;.but he was of opinion, that this Bill was in a limiter predicament with Supplies voted for the fervice of the year, and that it ought to have originated in a Committee of Sup ply. There was no reafon in exiftence why it Should not have thus originated : neither in the formation of the Confolidated Fund, nor with re ined to the Civd Lift, which had been alluded to on a former occafion. The Civil Lift was voted in 1,93, not as a Grant of the Crown, but rathe as a reftridtion, preventing it from exereiting cer tain rights • the Civil Lift was, however, charged on the Confolldated Fund, and mull be confidered only as an annual charge. There were feveral other charges which mull be confidered in the fame light ; amongft them was one on Account of the Officers of the Houle of Lords in Ireland, who were now, however, provided for under the A. of Union. There was alto a charge for the payment of Treafury Bills. There Bills were not made pay able at any particular time, but the Parliament of Ireland being aware of the amount of them in cir culation, had uniformly voted a fufficient rum to payihofe which were out (landing; but the Treafury was not authorized to pay a tingle Bill out of its Funds, The queltion was, whether this was to be confidered as a permanent or a temporary mea. Cure? if every article of the permanent Charge was admitted, it would amount to 3,5c0,00a1. The Revenue continued by this Bill he would . take at 3,000,0001. this added to the other re tfources, would make a film of 4,z00,0001. ; if the permanent charge of 3,500,0001. was Set off againft this, there would remain 700,0001. which mull undoubtedly fall within the province of the Com mittee of Supply. The whole of the Revenue was 7 in fad, to be applied to the Service of the year, yet this bill was hurried through the Houfe, fo ob (cured, as not to be known. There was another °bled of this bill, which was, to continue money bills that paired previous to the Union, whilft the Aft of Union had altered all thofe Duties. This Bill continued above Soo Duties on the Manufac tures of Ireland, all of which were concluded by the At of Union ; sop Duties which were im pofed when Ireland Was confidered as a foreign country, and which the Aa of Union had therefore abolifled. If this was the cafe, it was imp Able that the inanufaanrers of Ireland could go on with confidence or fecurity. There was a claufe he ob ferved in the prefent hill, by which it might be al tered dnring the prefect Seffion, yet it appeared that the duties were- to be continued for nine months ; he could not approve of this mode, as it went to place the manufatanTers of Ireland in a gate of the greeteft uncertainty, they not knowing in confequenee how they were to regulate their con duit, or to what they were to troll. Amon'(( the Duties to be continued by this Bill was the 6 per cent. duty, for the repeal of which the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Cony) had hiinfelf prefent ed a Petition, and which it was underftood was adually to be repealed. What kind of Legiflation was this—avowing at the time of enacting a Tax, an intention of repealing it. The Houle was called upon to aired its attention to the five of Ireland, and upon what documents ? How many Papers relative to that Country had been printed fince the Union ? One, and one only, which pur ported to be an account of a year's revenue, and the tranfaitions of a whole year with the requifite vouchers, and when there vouchers were examined, they were found to be only for nine months. He did not know to what this contradiction was to he afcribed, unlefs it was to the propenlity imputed to Iriihmen of making bulls. He was of opinion that the fubjed demanded an attentive and minute examination, and he thought it necelary to (tate to the Houfe the Situation of Ireland, that it might be fairly appreciated. Laft year the ba lance-of trade was againft Ireland to the amount of 5,000,0001. what/ in the year 1786 it was I,BochoooL in her favour, and Since that year, there was a difference, taking the Exports and Imports together, of 2,700,0001. againft her, out of a trade, which in the whole amounted only to 12,0z0,0c01. The flipping of Ireland had mate rially decreafed. Her debt, which in 5793, was only 2,300,0001. was increafed, in sBOO, to 36,000o:001. whilft the debt of Great Britain was not even doubled within the fame period. Such a Situation required, it mull Surely be acknowledged, every care on the part of Parliament, and ever) degree of &ill on the part of his Majefty's Min' • fters. The courfe of Exchangehad alio hien again.( Ireland for four years preceding; and for four or five years pall, the had been in the habit of borrow ing money from Great Britain. This Situation wAs rendered flillworfe by the increafe of abfentecs, who drew from the Country immenfe rums. Upon the whole, Ireland was drained of at leaft 5,000,0001. a-year, whilit nothing went into it. This feeincd a paradox, which he had never been able to ((Ave, nor could he conceive how the country could fultain - fuch a continual drain, without receiving any thing in return. If this brief notice of the utuation of Ireland, Should Serve to rook the attention of the Houle, there was no affiftance which it was in his power to. give relative to the fubjed, which liu would not diem-fully afford, in cafe the Houfe chof.: to proceed to the iaveitigatiou. lie did not with eluded with moving Committee to confider Union Aft, which he Lord THuaLow tho the Committee thould • whole Aft at once into Lord Atm [LAND wt obferved, that the ap Union was not the r tence, but that it wa that form, with a ',iv at the Elation which Union, but thofe who land, and actually prefi to prevent jealoufies oa with to be elated, and reeding in another col proxy. It was bower elation to bring forwa pro fed by his Noble RIDLIIDALS of taking the whole of derauon, that might b flop, but at prefent he the eleaion of Peers. The order was then Committee, and all th this Sawn were appoi Adjourned. HOUSE C Mr. W. BOOTLe brought Poor to keep a Rieke, of sod ordered to be read a printed. Mr. Simeon brought up Acding model:Sewing the he Accounts of °Team, me adjudged Ballads. Read coed time tomorrow forte Mr. A LIZA as the Marine Fore= and the Bel ordered to hem The Report of the Comi an VMS braes tot up, sad the time tomorrow. Mr. Alderman Coatis, Committee, wad far kai V the dine for the payment a Merchants of the Wands of give a . In Camiltice of the redid to name for leave to leoger dine, and ansind the tweet Sarah fras Ries am port was mitred robe remit p Commlint tithe wit for leave to babes ditto ha Limo Troia The It, a DM ortleral. Mt. Flinn gave Drake, for a wit for a new Menthe io the room of Lord C.aftko Tin pall Mr. Mammas Susi relative to the claims Prince of Wales. He (this day week), as tb make Tome Motion rel TIM DVS Mr. Foz rofe, and a which he appeared to I the Houfe in nearly t motion I am about to that in common idiom in introducing it by ai tons event which has robbed me of a friend, opportunity of teilifyin von, and my grief. Er give vent to my prival preffing my fenk of dm the noble Perfon who is fo ettraordinary and fo not to deviate from the I &add be wanting in and I believe I &mild • of the public. Never I excite filch general rq vades every rank, the s prelfed with the death conviaion that a public I now rife to fay a ft every one prefent Glaris be heard with indulge kar I hear !) Howevt you long. This is not the occafion e to detail to demi), the feature was the admiration etc expatiate upon them at be unnecarary. He lamented as ever any ft live in the yecollation There was fomething 1 his charaOer, it was nt excellencies, that to do BLICTIOII Of TRIM MRS. Lord REDISDALI tore, purfuant to his notice, to move for a Committee to confider certain Claufes of the Union Aft, relating to the mode of elating Peers to reprefent Ireland - . The inconve nience-he at prefent complained of was, that the Aft did not fufficiently provide for the rights of thofe who fhould cleft Peers to fit in that Houfe. There were many Irifh Peers, whole right to vote at eleaions might hereafter be difputed, if it was not recognised and afcertained. The Aft of Union Rated, that thofe only who, at the time of the Union, were Peers of Ireland, and who proved their titles in Ireland, could vote at the elation of the Peers who were to be returned to Parliament. Many perfons had fince become Peers of Ireland, who were not fo at that time, thofe as well as the Peers o Ireland who had never been there, but who refided on their elates in England, might, according to the Aft of Union, be declared in. capable of vo.ing at any future elation, if foam provifion was not made to amend that Aft; and , st was his with that fuck provifion Ihould extend to all thofe who had become Peers fince the Union ; to all Peerages in Abeyance ; and to thole Peers of Ireland who had always been in the habit of reeding in Great Britain. The Noble Lord con eluded with moving for the appointment of a Committee to confider of certain Claufes in the Union Aft, which he named. Lord Tuvaxow thought it would bebetter that the Committee fhould be inftrufted to take the whole Aft at once into confideration. Lord Auc 'Lawn was of the fame opinion; and obferved, that the apparent imperfeCtion of the Union was not the rank of millake or inadver tence, but that it was intentionally drawn up in that form, with a view that no Peers thould vote at the Elation which was to take place after the Union, but thofe who Ihould at the time be in Ire land, and aanally prefent. The reafon of this was to prevent jealoufses on the fart of thofe who might with to be elated, and who might objea to Peers, reeding in another country, giving their votes by proxy. It was however at that time in contem plation to bring forward Etch a meaibre as that pro fed by his Noble and Learned Friend. Lord RIDE/DIALS obferved. that with refpee to taking the whole of the Union Aft into confi. derauon, that might be done on Tome other occa fion, but at prefent he withed to confine himfrif to the eleaion of Peers.