Star. — London, England, 1802-02-11 00:00:00

I SWEDEN. STOCKHOLNI,;ANLYAPY 8. , GERMAN r. HAMBURGH, JANUARY 21. FRANCE. PARIS, FEBRUARY 6. The Swedifh Academy has late.F publifhed a Treatife worthy of attention, on th•. orthography of the Swedifh language, which in many refpeas will form an epoch in tlle literature of the country. 13) a circular letter of the Royal Chancery, the rule now laid down for wri,;,:• ' • the ftid Academy, are recommended as flan.lards to the Courts, and in all official documents. A propofition has been drawn up, according to which feveral German Princes, for their own tup poled advantage, arc to exchange their poffetlions with one another ; but it is doubted, whether the interefted parties, as well as Prutlia and France, will confent to this project, which would give to the German Conflitution quite a ner• form. It is afferted, that whatever change may take place with refpeet to the duchy of Parma, the Dukc will fpend the reit of his days with his family in the refidence he has hithet'to had, and will enjoy confiderable revenues. The Secretary to tho Ottc.m.m Legation here fct nut on his return to Conffantinople on the 3d, in porfnance of orders from his Government. Cardinal Ca P RAR A, the POP e's Lepte in France, is faid to h.tve been nominated Alt:lib:1110p of Mi lan, in the room of M. Viscueri, who died lnft month at Lyons. The Senate ..vas to terminate yefterday the elec tion of four fifths cf the Leziflators and Tribunes. It is faid that the new Members will be chofen only from the lift, of Z•lational Notables. The Confervative Senate have elefted Rows Commilfary of the Chief Tribunal of the Seine, a l'.!clib2r of the Tribunate; and FONTANFS, (of "ievres), Member of the Legiflative Body. The Prince Royal of Naples intends, it is faid, to efpoule an Infanta of Spain, and the Prince of the A Onri is, a Priwcefs of Naples. The Fielich 6 , ,vernrnent has tattled to be (hock a m:-.lal, at Lyiltis, v hick was ditiributed to the Citalpine Dernaie:. reverf2 exhibits a fimpk and noble inic:ipticn, which calls to r: memlwance the origin of I:.e. C:Liapines, an Ancient Colony of the G.itils Aulpic, BONA YA It re:, Inter Ganos, Gallorum Nepotes, ▪ Antiquun: 11.cuov. etntera fuan I,t6ibus condidcrunt, Lugeur', Ann° X. P.d r . The face .f the medal exhitMs a bull of BONA • With thiSi Levi, rtuo:ra Nris. A letter from Tulin. dated Tan. eoth, lass— " Ti':. Members of the . :411preine . Connril, civil and milit.:ry, have aticheifed the f•Illowim; lt tt-:t• to the Editr,r cif the Journal of iii, city :—' We have been jull informed by the timreme Magiittate of Health at,that acontagions malady hat late ly manifefted itii•if in the tov.m o: Medina-SiJonia, and other parts of Srain, and that the city rd Ca diz is not even free from it. This Magilltate in forms us that the In:pet ial Tt ibunal of Venice has confequently given orders th.it all (hips from Spain that !,e ful,:_ae,' :0 14 days quai•antine, and thofe which arrive from 'flier ptois of the Mediterranean to feven d • oilftri.Jien. Similar meaftires have been talr..n by his Al..icily the King of Naples to pr •ferve bis darts from ths contagion. Zeta tot, JAN. 24.—A1l the French and Helve tic troops, who were in garrifon here, have =Arched for the dinriEt of Fehraltorf, where an infurreetion had manitefled itlelf: it was at the village of Febraltorf that the infurgents had affembled, armed ?twiny with implements of I hulhandry ; they I;:ized their limb-prefe3 SCKAICH- Z : but one prim oner has been brought in to us, and we now Icarn that the infurgents are difperfed. PAR LIANEN7,I R - PROCEEDINGS. HOUSE OF LORDS, WLDNESDAY, FEB. so. The Loan CNA Ncei roe came down to the Houle rather earlier than u;.ial, and Giortly ttfter prayers were read. • It was expedeci jud3ment would have been given relative to the important appeal Johnfon v Stotts—however. that proceeding,after fume routine Fufmefs had been traufaacd, was deferred by their Lon?.hips till to-morrow. The hearing of the appeal, Stewart v. Miller, was deferred tin Monday. The further hearing of the cafe, Sir WillLnn Anguilla Cue nitigham, Bart. t , •Itheri, which was fixed for to t:to:row, was pcitponed till Monday. Th:ir Loratips tten, after waiting tome time, adjourned dB to-morrow. HOCSE OF COMMONS. rtecTiom or A SPEAKER. At four o'clock, the MASTER of the Rom.: rife and fa;d, that the event communicated to the Houk on the preceding day, rendered it nccelfary they should proceed to the elation of a new Speaker. It wa: imprflible not to regret 114 lofs they ha I experienced of the a'aility with whic! the duties of the Ch:, r had been exercifed by the Right Han. Gt. ntlem who had jnit quitted it. Polfec frog, a; that Right Hon. Gentleman did, know ledge fo cnmprchenfivc and fo ufeful, and infor znatier' lb extenfive and fp accurate, he had tilled the Chair v•ith the utmolt ability, dignity, and impartiality, even difficult as his predcceifor had made it LO (bins in that litnation. It was fome con fattiot, however, if the talents of his Right Hon. were loft to the Houfc, that they were about to be exercifed in a fituation for which he was peculiarly fitted ; how well the duties of that fituatioa would be exercifed, it was needlefs for him to fay, for there was nothing in legal Science winch the comprebenflve mind of his Right Hon. Friend did not embrace, from the minutell parti cular of forenfic difquifition, to themoli enlarged fyftem of national jurifprudence. That Houfe con ' tained, within itfelf, an abundance of knowledge and ability, but it always happened, that a few Gentlemen from their litaations, or the nature of _. their (ludic;, were more peculiarly fitte4 for the • exercife of thofe duties which were attached to the Chair. Of thofe few, one might be generally pointed out as eminently acquainted with Parlia mentary knowledge ; it was not, at the fame time, to be fuppofed, that one was to be diftinguiffied to the exclufion of all information upon the fubje6i in others—one only could be chofen ; but the choice of one did not imply the want of fufficient informaion and ability in others.-If, then, a great knowledge of law, and of the conftitution, if an intimate acquaintance, not only with Parliamen• Lary hillory, but with thole records on which the ' proceedings of that Houle were founded, if an un w_aried attention to bufinefs, if a conflant endea ,l vonr to direct the attention of the Houle to mea• fetes of acknowledged public utility, and which I were calculated fir the benefit of the country, if uaccating exertions to aflif the Houle in carrying into etre& thofe meafures, if thofe were col-linea tions which fitted for the Chair, then he was con vinced the Houfe would agree with him, that the Gentleman whom he fhould have the honour to propofe was peculiarly fitted for that fituation— He meant Mr. Abbot. The Held,: had witneffed the meafures that Right Hon. Gentleman had brought for ward, and they mull be convinced that his condu& had been one continued fcene of ufeful exertion. If filch had hitherto bLen the conduct of that Right Hon. Gentleman, furely they might expea, if they made him the objet of their choice, a difplay of exertion eminently calculated to con tribute to the public interell and the public welfare, to add to the dignity of the Houk, and enfure the accuracy of its proceedings, whiltl, at the fame tint-, thole exertions wool,. be airrulated by the illuft•ious example of his prealecelThrs. Con vinced of his ditlinguiffied ability for the office, he propofed, that the Right Hon. Charles Abbot do take the Chair of the Houk. Mr. BAKER took fingular pleafure in feconding the motion, though little had been left him to fay by the Learned Gentleman who made it. He Inuit beg leave, however, to oblerve, that he him fell had witneffed in the Hon. Gentleman propo. fed to fill the Chair, the moil careful invelligation of fubjeas the mot} intricate and laborious, and the frequent exertion of qualities the molt dentin' to the difcharge of the high duty which 1w was now propofed to fill, which came molt happily recommended by the temper, moderation, and fteadinefs with which he had not only made the arrangements he had engaged in, but with which I he met the diCiculties and the ohjeCio;., -.t•Lich he had to encounter in their prol:cittion. There was another circumgance which fliould unto lecom mend him to the choice of the I lottie, refutes the confideration of his intelieEtual endo. , ..m en r s M r . Abl,ott was at a time of life which r-rinittA the Houle to look for his continuing long in tin. Lace, a circumllance which thould not he overlooked, a , . frequent change, were not only unluitable to the dignity of the Houle, but aifo obitroetive the progrels of public bufinels, the cootie of wli:ch ihould not be liable to interruption.. The only thing he had to lament was, that the country and the Houfe were to be deprive.; of the talents and knowled_e of the Learned Gentleman wh o h a d left the : his re ; _ , ,ret on this was, how ever, diminilhed, wnen he had the honour of le conding the motion that Inch a gala:man as Mr. Abbott should be his fuccetfor. Mr. SIitRIDAN ohii:rved that, on a former ne e:dim, when the Learned Gentleman who had gull refigned the. Chair had been propofed to fill it, it was his misfortune to differ from a great ma jority of the Houle- A s to viint had been faid in favour of the Learned Gentleman propofed this day, it had his molt perfat concurrence ; nor did he think, that on the grounds adduced, a more proper choice could have been made. He freely acknowledged the various talents of that Learned Gentleman, for whom he perfonally entertained the highell relpea. That Learned Gentleman, be trusted, however, would forgive him if the reafons which induced him to oppose the elation of his predeceffor fhould Rill prompt him to continue his oppofition from the fame motives which influenced it at first. He never could be brought to believe that a knowledge of the law and profeflional men were chiefly to be looked to in the choke of a Speaker. It was not a praCtice warranted by an cient cuilom, or proper to be purfued as a rule.— It might not be fir-idly Parliamentary to allude to one particular defcription of Members as more in dependent than another; but Rill what was called country gentlemen was always confidered as hand ing more aloof from influence than other defcrip. tions of the Houle, efpecially the profeffional gen tlemen of the law, who hold places under the Crown, and are removeable at pleafure. There was not a fhadow of doubt but that it was his Ma jelly's prerogative to appoint his Minifters and the Executive fervants of the Crown; but it was alto uncontroverted that the Horde of Commons fhould be peculiarly jealous in the choice of the perfon who fhould regulate their proceedings, and keep that choice as clear as poffible from the nomina tion of Minifters. Perfons who thus held places under the Crown are known to be generally in the habit of deferring to Minifters, and fuch an habit muft more or refs vitiate their judgment and opinion. To refign fuch a place on the eve of an elation, if the Learned Gentleman had done fo, was perhaps fomewhat indecorous, and argued fomethinif like a prefumption on the choice of the Houle. To fuch a condua he had before objated on the elation of the late Speaker. At all events the eleCtion to fuch an high office fhculd be kept altogether aloof from Minifterial influence : nor ' did he fee that technical minutia and mere prolef fronal knowledge were neceflary qualifications for that (Winn ; a liberal knowledge of the conilitu tion, and an acquaintance with the proceedings of the Houfe, joined to integrity and indepen dence, were the great and foie requifites : but an Hun. Gentleman ( Mr. Baker) appeared to think that Mr. Abbott's time of life was a hong recom mendation. Yes, it might indeed be fuch, if it was certain he fhould be continued in that office ; but experience has (hewn that it was not death alone that removed Gentlemen from this Ration : that the very profeffion of the law, which is now deemed fo elfential a quality for thi office i 5 often the reafon of the frequency of change—fordething may occur, as has juft recently occurred, which a lawyer may prefer, even to this diflinguifhed ftation, or which he may look upon as an employ. went in which he may be more ferviceable to his country.• On the age of the perfon no great ftrefs can therefore be laid, more efpecially asMi nifters teem as jealous to permit a Speaker to re main long in the Chair, as parifh officers are anxious to remove vagrants, left they fhould endeavour at a fettlement. But to return to the bufinefs di redly before the Houle, he lhould, for the reafons he had now and on a former occafion adduced, proceed to propofc a Gentleman out of that dais to which he had already alluded, and when he named Mr. Charles Dundas, he was confident that the Learned Gentleman already propofed could feel no difparagement from fuch an opponent. Lord G. CAVENDISH feconded the motion, con ceiving the Right Hon. Gentleman propofed by the other fide, from his known conncEtion with the Mini(try, extremely ineligible to fill a fitua tion which ought to be independent. He re commended Gentlemen to inquire into the cha raCter of his Honourable Friend (Mr. Dundas) in the county he reprefented, and they would find it diflinguithed for every virtue that could adorn his rank. Mr. COVILTEN AY exprefred himfelf quite fads- ' - fied of the juflice of the eulogium pronounced upon the Right Hon. Gentleman who had juft vacated the Chair : at the fame time he mull fay, he was fincerely lorry the Rightlion. Gentleman on the Treafury Bench had ever left that fituation in which he had obtained fuch unanimous appro bation. He would not difpute that the talents of the Right Hon. Gentleman propofed by the other fide for the Chair might not be very great ; be caufe he never before heard any thing about them; but thole occult qualifications perhaps, in this new appointment, would be Mond out. Yet, however great his abilities, the Right Hon. Gentleman on the Treafury Bench was as competent to fill the Chair; and to fee him placed there again would delight every one. He was Pure it would give pleafure to the country at large ; and though the nation in fuch an event might be deprived of the Alliance of his fplendid abilities in his Majefty's Cabinet, there was a conlolation in thinking that his place might be filled by the Right Hon. Gen tleman now propofed for the chair—Yes ' and his talents might be found adequate to the fituation too--for as it had been often obrerved, that great occafions bring forth great abilities, that exalted al: pointrnent might develope the inimenfe capaci: y of that Right Honourable Gentleman's mind.— ' The Speakerfhip, it had been remarked, was a place that requires impartiality ; lo it does—the neon who poffelied it fhould not incline to either in debate ; he fhould not look with a partial eye to any part of the Houk, but confider him• ;elf as the Tridlec of the whole—if then he al terwards lhooll be lifted to an higher office in the .state, this habit of impartiality might be found to attach to him—he may form new connedions ; and perhaps it might be difficult to know whether he do not prefer them to the old, or whether he be cordial to either ; or whether, by his mode of fpe thing, looking, or ailing, he meant to col:port his new allies or his old conflant friends. Mr. C. laid, he did not mean to apply there obfervations to any one ; perhaps he ought not in flrid regu larity to of them on this occafion, but the fubje& before the Houle naturally produced Tome reflec tions on the fingular advantages of the Speaker's Chair, to teach a man how to manage perfons who may differ in certain opinions, and how to produce unanimity. He hoped the Right Hon. Gentleman, propofed by the other fide, if he flouts' be ele'led, which was rather probable. would avail himfelf of that fituation to become qualified to a& with a diferetion in a higher office, to which no doubt his great genius and acquire. meats would one day raife him. It was argued that a Gentleman of the Law was bell qualified for the Chair, becaufe, as it was Rated, thnfe Gentlemen were fuperior in their intelligence ; but this he was by no means prepared to admit. In his opinion, the fpccies of Rudy to which Lawyers generally applied themfelves, was as little calcu lated to invigorate the mind, as tumbling on a flack rope was to firengthen the mulcles. He was not at all an admirer of chicane and ftibtlety de rived from law learning, though he would not be underflood to mean any refledton on that learned profeilion ' many of whom were fo refpedable.— Plowden thought the Country extremely happy, becatireTo many Lawyers were to be found in the Houfe of Lords, who, according to him, are in troduced there, not by favour, or by chance, or by fortune, but by the fpecial interpofition of Pao - VIDENCF to watch over the ?eace and profperity of the people, of which it is fo much their intereft and Rudy to be tenacious. He quoted Plowden, becsufe he knew his authority was much refpeded among the Lawyers, and that he was often quoted in Warninfier Hall Mr. ABBOT Paid, that in offering himfelf to the notice of the Houfe, it was impoffible not to fed deeply impreffed with refped towards the Houfe, and gratitude to his friends who had propofed him. When he refleded upon the profound learning and confummate talents which had for a feries of years diainguiflted the Chair, he could not avoid the con templation of his own infufficiency to perform the duties of fo important a troll. If an ardent zeal for the Conffitution of Parliament in all its branches, a fincere admiration of the privileges of this Houfe, and an attachment to its forms, were qualifications on which the Houfe would defire to found its de cifion, II he flattered himfelf they belonged to him' in common with all Its Members. Whoever fhould be the obje& of the choice of the Houfe would, with the fandion of its fupport and alliflance, he en abled to accomplifh much; but if fuch a fupport was withdrawn, his e ff orts mull be frtiitlefs, how ever eztenfive his talents. Whether the offer of his Cervices as Speaker fhould be accepted or re. jelled, he (lipoid ever retain the ma lively grati tude for the flattering manner in which his nomi nation had been received. Mr. CHARLES DUNDAS returned thanks to the Hon. Gentleman who had thought proper to pro pofe him as a Cand idate for the Chair. He was fenfible his talents were by no means to adapt ed to that eminent fituation as tliclie of the Right Hon. Centleman who had been previoufly pro poled. It was betides his Cole ambition to a‘ft at he had hitherto done in the Ration of a privat:-. Member of Parliament. He begged leave to recall to the attention of the Gentleman scl:o had done him the honour to propofe him, the dignity and profpetity which had diflinguifh ed the Parliamen tary and pul , :ic condua of the Right Hon. Gen tleman on whom he hoped, the choice of the Houfe would be ultimately fixed. He hoped he fhould appear jullified in declaring his inability to fill the important fituation he bad been deemed worthy of by his friends. In laying this, he was not adopt ing the language cuflomary upon there occafions. but he was (peaking in the fincerity of his heart. and he earneftly entreated the Hon. Gentleman who had propofed him, and the Noble Lord who had feconded the Motion, to withdraw their no mination, and join in fupporting the Right Hon. Gentleman who had been lo properly brought for ward. He trufled there was not one man in the Houfe who imagined lie would have prefumed for one moment to have offered himfelf to their atten tion, had it not been for the partiality of thofet Gentlemen by whom he had been nominated. Mr. ORMSBY faid, that. as a Member for that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, he could not avoid exprctling how gratifying it murk be to him, and to the Gentlemen who reprefented that part of the empire, to fee, by every at of tho United Parliament, the bonds of affetclion between the two countries drawn clofer, never, he hoped. to be broken aflinder. Nothing could be a more gratifying proof of the harmony that fulifilled be tween the two countries, than to fee that a man could find a reward for the greatefl and muff emi nent fervices in an appointment to an office of the higheft rank kind copfidence in the other. The aco mination which had been made of the Right Hon, Gentleman, who had lately filled that Chair, to i the important office of Chancellor of Ireland, wa s the ftrongeft proof of the cordial Matta:ll v. hich was taken in this part oldie empire . tbr the welfare of the other, by parting with loch great and diftin. F uifiled talents, for the benefit of that country. Fhere was fomething equally gratifying to the pride of that country, in the motion which had been made for a fuccelfor to that Riqht Kin. Gen- tleman, but he mull be allowed to 'fay, that they paid dearly for that gratification ; hecaufe, by the promotion of the Right Hon. Gentleman now pro poled to the Chair, Ireland would lofe the nal,- ance of as perlevei ing, as diligent, and as unbiaf fed a Friend, as ever adminlitered the affairs of that country. This was not Li, opinion only, but the univerfal voice, and he (poke without the hey. z iid of being contradifted. Every individual lab j.fet, every aftive, faithful, and diligent terrain of the public, found in hint an unfolicited friend and patron. If there were any of a different opinion, they could only circul ate th e i r ca l umn y ill whir: pers, for the univerthl voice of the country was in his favour. In his choice, between the two Gcn, denten who had been propofed, he was athamed to fay, that he could only give his vote from a pofi tive knowledge of the merits of the one, becaufe he was not lufilciently acquainted with the other Gentleman who had been propofal, to enter into a comparifon between them. He had not the 'Mandl doubt of the qualifications of the Gentle man who had been propoled on the other fide of the Hance, but he had not the materials to form a. comparifon. In fupporting the Right Honourable GentLman who had been &It pi-eided, 1:.: knew that he was borne out by the orinion entertained by the people of this country of his abilitko, for he was lure that there was hardly a part of the coun try that was not aware of the efficient talents of his Right Hun. Friend. He was fort yto fay that a Right Hon. Friend ()ibis (Mr. Corry) who was at the herd of the Financial Department in II eland, was unavoidahly ablent from illnefs. It he had been prefent he %% raid have borne ample tellimor.y to the exertion; of the Right Hno. Gentleman (Mr. Abbot), in Ireland, and no tetlimony could he drawn from a more pure and }mom able fource. He begged pardon for having taken up fis much of the time of the Houfe, but the uniform indul gence which Gentlemen from the other part of the United Kingdom always experienced in that Houle, and the conftant attention that was paid to the in , terells of that country, had emboldened him upon ' this occafion to trefpals In long upon their time. Mr. ARCHDALE laid,, he role merely in conic quence of an obfervation of an Hon. Gentleman, that the talents of the Gentleman who had been propofed were unknown. If they were unknown to -that Gentleman (Mr. Courtensy), he could only lay that they might he wilily known to any man of common obfervation ; and, he would ven ture to tiny, that if the Right Hon. Gentleman brought to the Chair thole talents which he dif played while in Ireland, he would bring with him four moft efrential and invaluable qualities, viz. Impartiality, Vigilance, Knowledge, and Decifion. Mr. J. H. ERowut laid, he was lure the Hon. Gentleman on the other fide of the Houfe would not have expreffed a doubt of the talents of his Right Hon. Friend, if he himielf had not been for lonic years but very little converfant with the bufinefs of the Houfe.—That Right Hon. Gentle man had been placed in the Chair of the Com mittee of Finance, and in that fituation no man ever gave ftrongcr proofs of vigour and indepen. dance than he had done.—The abilities of that Right Hon. Gentleman were fo well known, that he had been almoft always chofen Chairman of every Committee to which he belongeo—the Com mittee on Records, the Committee on thc Pro mulgation of the Statutes, the Committee for the Improvement of the Port of London, &c. His conduit, upon thefe occafions, had given firong proofs of his qualifications for the Chair of that: Houle, independent of his legal knowledge. Mr. COURTENAY explained. The Houfe was then cleared, and Mr. Abbot was chofen without a Divifion.—He was then con duaed to the Chair, from which he, in a moft elegant Speech, returned his thanks to the Houfe. He was afterwards complimented by Mr. Yorke upon the occafion : and the Houfe adjourned till tO-1110TrOW5 MI