Star. — London, England, 1820-06-30 00:00:00

i i ship them publicly and sometimes privately. The former I mode of pia.ishing was a disgusting outrage on every kind of d xet.cy, the Letter was liable nearly to as many objections; ' for the jailor, when the punishment was private. might inflict it with shocking severity, or so lightly as to make .it a mere matter of form. Upon the whole, be believed every one would agree with him that the practice was inconsistent with public niorals s well as with justice, and that it ought no longer to be tolerated. It was his intention to propose that the practice should be abolished, not only in jails and houses of correction, 15.. t in all workhouses, lunatic asylums and other places where lunatics were confined:: Inv* evjcien • ce before the House, that the most barbarous practices in this riopect prevailed in houses for the reception 'of insane persons. lie concluded with moving for leave to bring in the. .Bill.—Leave was given. • The Bill was afterwards brought up,'and read a first time. PA RG A. ' . • Lord JOHN RUSSELL . said, he rose to bring forward the motion of Which he had given notice, relative to the sufferings of the unfortunate people of Parga. He was aware, that in the present state of the public mind, which was so much interested in tither topics of more immediate importance, it would be difficult to thaw the attention of the House to the subject he was now about to bring before it ; for he knew how much all minds were now occupied with a great domestic question ; -but, at the same time, he could not forbear bringing the case of these unfortu nate people, who had been deprived of their rights, • before the House. The general opinion that prevailed respecting the cession of Parga by the British Govern ment to the Porte, was, that it was a case of grievous hardship- abd treachery on the part of Great Britain; and so widely and injuriously did the opinion extend, that our enemies took occasion to lay hold of this . part of our conduct for the purpose of holding us up to the world as a Nation without good faith or ho, pour; so that our character sustained a great and serious injury. The case of Parga might be told in a few words. In the course of the long war which' we carried on with France,. the lonian Islands, toge ther with the town of Para, tell into our possession. They had been previouslyin : posiession of the French, from whom we took them. By the Treaty of Paris, in 1814, we wute to continue our possession of the lonian Islands, And the territory of Parga was to be given up to the Turks. This was the great act of Injustice of which he complained, At the time when we took Parga from the French, we never should have been able to do so, had it not been for the zssist- ante of the Pargiotes themselres. Those people were favourable to us, and they gladly put themselves un der our protection. They detested the Turkish Go vernment, and were ready to make any sacrifice, rather than be subjected to its power. They had always preserved a sort of . independence of that Go vernment ; and it was on the condition that we should guarantee their independence that they placed them selves under the power of Great Britain. What then must be said of tte conduct of the Government which gave up these unhappy people to their most invete rate enemies, and which suffered their country and their religion to be overthrown? A Christian nation, enjoyirrg a great degree of freedom, and attached to us by religious as well as. political feeling, were thus thrown into the power of a despotic and intolerant Government, which exercised that power with relent less cruelty, by driving the unhappy people from their houses, from their altars, and from everything that was dear to thqn in this life. Here the Noble Lord Fooeeded to enter into a detail of the several historical events which led to the evacuation of Pitrga. After the Pargiotes were thus driven from their native place and their altars, they were unable to obtain any other spot, except one which was so bar. testis to be wholly unfit ter them to live on. After being transplanted to one of the lonian Islands, their compeaution was altogether inadequate to their wants, and their condition was truly deplorable, The Noble Land now adverted to the harsh con- duct observed towards the whole of the natives of • the lonia* isles, by Sir Thomas Afaitland, who was at the bead of the Government time, and who elm " cised a kind of absolute power over diem, although they wezegenersily understood to enjoy a system of coastitutional liberty. Sic Thomas Maitland stood in a very critical situation; but his was a situation of great and extensive powm ; for he was at the head of a gseat military force, and at the head also of what is ca lle d a Constitutional Government; but although it was. a Constitutional Government, he could exer cise a power, by means of Isis military forcei,that was than what the King, his Master, could in Ki e st er onntry. Sir T. Maitland had levied taxes on the people of Santa Alaura, without any authority, ezcept own, and among others, there was one which hadneverbeen imposed in any-country before —it was a tax on water, by which a dollar a year was imposed an every weill This indeed, would afford a new lesson is finaoce to a Chancellor of the Escche-! qUer ; .brat :although Sir Thomas Maitland was' thus' rigorous in the raising of revenue, he hadshewn but very limie regard rb' ecnnorny, for in virtue of . his <Ace of Lord High Commissioner, be h:441 made a i rim et wacidizary increase in the salaries of all y 'Office% of the Government; and given-salaries to same who• bad none • !fore; and the expenses aught . to he defrayed by the islands them ;el ves, weressi'Much . greater than 'fie revenues, that 4 ;reve Brigaia.vms obliged to-contribute a large por tion 41 them annually. Hejsid no doubt that the liovernment of Sir Thomas Maitland deserved to be . spaken of With respect and approbation, but be • 1 1 4 ought the ,powers entrusted to him were such as '• ihotski sit be placed in the hands of any individual ! • fie p.m4Lielnillitsell) d < d not know bow to ream-1 cite to any sound Principle of politicalecooomy the saveasesee which - Sir Theorise Maitland had lately' ' *adopted of .plating the whole of the corn for the save:palace cf the perple of Corfu in the hands of the 'investment. the worthy Governor's alliance with etpxOf the iest political economists of the day might Piave Oral rise to an expectation dint he would not • have so IkVoady violated every principle of political a:glinting as *had done. It might he tree. that it was secissery to destnoy the monopoly which the merchants enjoyed of this article, but the remedy was rather a strong one. He should nest say one word as to Befiwsn. The Noble Lord then teed a n estract Mins one ofdae dispatches of Sir Thomas Maitland, i n w hi c h h e 'writes. with seeming displeasure, that a ,phis of th eo retical innovation bad given rise to tau. memus-and avidatuded complaietit against the Con *titmice wkich :the people el the island enjoyed. All that he (Lard Juba Russo* *mad say en thatiah . Ica was, that dining this eituunceof the Coagulation thent,tiiire bad heist aiding hut iniarrietion. and that up to dais time great riser mot Sad peat disorders prevailed under it. With eospectrto the conduct of the Lord High Commissioner, it could not be &Oat that some complaints had been made or it at the Court of St. Petersburgh, from which representa tions had been sent to this country.. 'But if the dis-1 eussicms on the question did not spew ehhee that the conduct on the one side or the other was wrong, it would be his duty to make a motion on the subject. He then moved— ,, That an humble Address be fife - vented to his Majesty, praying that he would be pleased to direct that there be laid before the House a Coprof a Memorial presented 'by two natives of Parga to the Secretary of State for the Colonial De partment ; and also Copies of the Dispatches from Sir Thomas Maitland to the Secretary of State, re specting the cession of Parga." Mr. GOULBURN assured the House, that it was ' not his intention to • follow the Noble Lord into the, ' various topics which his speech embraced, and which, he had no doubt, appeared to the House as they did to him—to be wholly irrelevant. He in ' treated the House not to take for granted the state ' ments which the Noble Lord had thought himself justified in making to. the -House; but to suspend their judgment until the opportunity arrived when the whole of the case would be before them—and when it would be seen, whether or net the conduct of the British Government was of that character de scribed by the Noble Lord—or whether or not this was one of the many instances, in which that protec tion which England had pledged herself to extend, wag received according to'all those maxims of good faith and feeling which she was in the habit of hold ing in respect. Indeed, the Noble Lord himself seemed to entertain some apprehensions that he would not be able to succeed in establishing his case,' for if the ground of complaint had been so manifest, as it was said to be, could it be believed, that a per . son of the Noble Lord's capacity, would have found it necessary to enter into so many extraneous topics, and have collected so many subsidiary grievances, not as having taken place in Parga, but in the whole of :the lonian Islands, no one was better able than' the Noble Lord to do justice to any subject which he might take in hand—but, when he was obliged to have recourse to so many subjects which were fo reign to the case, it was a fair presumption that the Noble Lord did not feel himself secure in the sort of proof which the case itself furnished. The Noble Lord had read various extracts from anonymous pamphlets, in support of his views ; but the autho rity of such was at least questionable, and he had no doubt of being able to dispose of most of their state medts. The Noble Lord had. given a short history of the territory of Parga, and, no doubt, it was ne cessary, in a discussiotilike the present, to be in pos session of the state of the country at different times, in order to judge of the character of the feeling which had been exercised with respect to it. Most of the writers on the state of Parga had agreed that it had•been an independent territory. Haw long she had enjoyed her independence was a -subject with which he should not trouble the House at that time. It was by the Treaty of Campo Formic) that the Islands were delivered over to the possession of the French, in whose hands they continued until 1798. In that year a war broke out between Franc* and the -Porte, and the Nandi were seized by the joint fleets of Russia and the Porte, for the use of the latter Power. The Treaty of 1800, between Russia and the Port; was not, as has been stated, a Treaty of partition but one of temporary distribution, and which was to remain in operation until the final cession of the Islands on the part:of France to the Porte. In a Treaty concluded in 1801, the possession of the Islands was confirmed and guaranteed by. Prince to the Porte, so that there was, in fact, a direct and plenary transfer of the Island: by France to Turkey. In the war whisk subsequently broke out between Russia and the Porte, Russia occupied the Islands.- The Islands afterwards fell into the hands of : France. Per g a was a military garrison for that.Power f and, the English Government, seeing that the occupation of it by• an English garrison might prove advantage ous to the service, an expedition was directed thi-1 ther, the success of which, he was. ready to admit, was accelerated by the assistance of the natives.— After this statement, he would ask with confidence,' would there have been any justification for Great Britain to assign this territory to any other Pewter than that of Turkey ? In the. Treaty of Vienna the attritoty of Parga was not included, and all that th ee Treaty requirecc was to have the Power ascertained' ao which it belonged, for the purpose of restoring it.l ---He denied, upon the authority of the whole history of the transaction, that Great Britain entered i'arga under circumstances that would warrant her in as suming sovereign power over, the inhabitants. • He would assure the House that he had made the most anxious inquiries amongst the British Officers, in (infer to ascertain, the.circonstanceruoder which we get posieasioa of Parga. After having- made the strictest search Is the Office, be could rant:-Sod 2 trace in the Papers connected wkli the subject;. he could not find a single line to warrant him in making any other statement than what. he had made, nansely, that the condition of our occupation of Parga fed us in assuming the sovereign power. He then wrote to Sir J. Campbell, who was then in extreme illness, inquiring whether any. Officer in his Majesty's service gave to the Pargiotes• any assurance that Parga should continue under the protection °U tile Briush Government? That Officer beingahen unable to write dictated a letter, in 'which he stated, that so Officer had been authorized by him tontake such assurance in any shape; and from . all the inquiries he was enabled to make, he could not discover that it had been made by any Officer in the service.-.- - Whatever claim - % therefore, the people of Parga, might have upon Great Britain, they certainly had no ground for saying that their remaining under the protection of Great Britain formed any part of the condition upon which it came into our occupation. With respect to the propriety of our entering into engagements with Turkey, under certain circum stances, he would say nothing at that time—but he, was sure, that then a treaty was areed upon, no consideration ought to restrain us from fulfilling every part of it. This was the maxim to which Great' Britain had uniformly adhered. With respect to the mode of restoration, which the Noble Lord had re prebenied in so unqualified a manner, he (Mr. Goulburn) thought, that before any opinion was con cluded upoa it, it would be right to considerathethee' or not it was posilble to have effected it in any other manner. No doubt it would have been easy. for Britain to Rive abOirkined it altogether, •Ibtl re withdrawn its garrison. From the year 1: b b )6, during which it continued 'under the sow& ty of the Porte, Parga never experienced nny of inconveniences--or those violations of treaties whiCh had been so Often imputed to the Turkish Go vernment. Bat what would have been the argu ment against Great 'Britain if she had abandoned Parga to herself, *hi in all probability it would 'fall into the hands of'.stairie of those rapacious Powers. in its neighbourhood, Who were ready to. 'eke ;he first opportunity of getting it into their hands ? review of the state of Para at different periods would shew to any one how. incapable Parga Was to defend itself against an enemy. Hence then, the only other course left to Great Britain, was to keep the place by force of arms. However, it would be seen by the House, that the announcement that the restoration would take place, was made at an early 'period, and it was accotnpanied by a declaration, that the people who retired from the territory would be allowed a compensation for the loss of their pos sessions. The only remaining question for conside. ration, was as to the amount of that compensatio. No man, when the Papers came before the House, l would entertain a doubt that the .calculation made by the natives was extravagant. They defined the amount to be £600,000, and when it was ansidered that this was supposed to be the amount of the loss of a population consisting of 2700 persons, it would certainly be deemed extraordinary—(Hear, hear). — The House would also take into consideration that the Pargiotes had one great advantage in this respect —that the property did not remain on their hands until the purchaser arrived—but we stipulated to take it at a fair valuation—the money to be imme diately paid in the lonian Islands. Valuators were appointed on both sides; the amount of compensa tion was defined by one side at £280,000, and by the other at £50,000. It was necessary to take a me dium between the two. He begged here to observe, that the valuation on the part • of the natives pr-o ceeded upon entirely an erroneous principle, and was as distant from the just esdmate as the valuation of a track of West India plantation would be, which was founded upon the calculation of whit it pro duced for a certain number of. years before. .With respect to the church property, the House would see that it belonged to the State, and therefore could not properly fornt a part of that loss for which the natives were to be compensated. The valuation upon which the Government at length concluded was not formed upon a sketch of the property, but upon a careful computation of the value of each article. It embraced the minutest items, even to the number of trees.of various kinds; and although it was not in his power to have presented to the House this minute 'valuation, still, in that which would shortly be laid before them, they Would find enough to shew that it was formed •by a careful and_ minute examination. Here he begged leave to remark, that a statement of the valuation Of his property had been harnied to each of the natives, and.up to that moment he had not heard that any one of them made a single objec tion to his share—(Wear, hear).—The Noble Lord had taken occasion to remark, that the Pargiotes had been treated with great harshness by Sir Thomas Maitland. The' instructions of that officer did not any,means imply harshness or severity, for they intlyAtsitted tliat therbiltish Government would.not Ma t inKC,the labouring population in idleness, but they elwald look to themselves in their new habita tions for the means of subsistence. It was, therefOre,. impossible to think of attaching blame to the mea sures of! Sir Thomas Maitland, unless it could be shewn that we were bound to find the population in• subsistence for an indefinite period - of time, .It was not his intentioa, at that moment, to enter into a de fence of - the general administration c f Sir T. Mait land; but, in the absence of any particular vindica tion of the conduct of thitOfficer, he should merely' , appeal to his character for ability and integrity, and he (Mr. Goulbum) did, so, .with the assurance that that appeal.would furnish - the fullest answer to any invidious reflections upon his conduct. With respect so the Noble Lord's on•vations dpon the severity of tjsrAit,tes in one of the islands there, it was necessary witlfssery e, ;hat thiinhabitanti of Santa Maura, de-, siroira of bevies a canal cut through the island, had agreed to assess themselves for the payment of half the expenses of the work, the other half to be paid by the Government. It was true thit some part of the proceeds had been afterwards applied to meet. unexpected expenses, created by the inhabitant&them delves. Reassured the - Noble Lord that there had 'been no tax upon wells in, the •islands. The Noble Lord next animadverted upon thesnanner of retain ing the corn for the inhabitants in the hands'of Go vernment. It should be remembered that Sir Thos. 'Maitland, shortly after his arrival there, abolished the monopoly of the merchants, svhich was so inju rious to the people. Upon further experience, he found that it was ,impossible to dispense with a mo nopoly of some extent, and accordingly it was re sumed by the Government. The stock, however, 'was limited to a period of Seven days. With respect to the general administration of the Governor, he assured the Hous - C he was ready to enter into a vin dication of it at any time. • • • Sir ROBERT WILSON .was always one of those who thought • that it was impossible either for France Ix:England to keep possession of Parga. The occu pation of it would, in fact, be as much an Offence to the Turkish Government, as would the oc.cupa ties of Dover by the French to England, or the oc cupation of Calais by the English to France. - But the complaint' against England was, that she charged herself with the cession to the Porte. Nothing that we could gain from the lonian Islands would ever compensate for the loss of . out character for 'good faith, which our conduct towards Parga had inflicted upon us. Again, he Was of opinion that we were bound to see that ample remuneration was made to the Parg,iotes for their privations. Mr. HUME, in answer to the Honourable Gentle mau who spoke list but one, said, that Parka .had bon always a dependent State.. The Treaty of Til sit expressly conveyed 'Parga to France; and when. we became possessed ''of.if, whatever quibbling was' ezerciseuon the subject, it wa s we ll un de rstood that it should remain under our protecrioa. How-' liVair, the only question now was as to the ansoeut of aanipensation. The Honourable Gentleman had said, l OU the valuation Which - was acted upon, had , been , proPer,9Pe. He (Air. Hume) thought it a strange diode to judge of the value of property in Paig4l ;omputiog it according to the value of .property in Corfu. Why was not the mode adopted niiich had been proposed—namely, to value it according to th e average rental of a number of years? It was sald that each of the natives had a statement of his share, and that he made no complaint. The fact was, tiwt. they did not understand the principles of it, nor d;d they obtain it for . a long time. . At all events, a pr o . &emotion had been issued by General Alaitiand, stating that whatever was the value, 4:150,000 only should be given.-for the whole.. If this mode of de. fining theyalne was bad, the mode of payment wa, worse. Deductions to the amount of #42,000 had been. made from the original amount of the vai n _ tion,. hi consideration of the pa y ment being made in good'money. But, what was the case? Five-silth s of the - payments were made in bad money, z . n d yet the deductions, which cobld only be justifl by the. payment of the good money, were mad e : Afterwards when complaints were made, it was posed to repay these deductions upon' condition 11:a. all title to further benefit); would be given up. denied that there had been any disposition on tl:e part of the British Commissioners to treat the Par: giotes with mildness or indulgence. Why was it pre* posed to send them to Manganese to build a tow-. there, which he himself knew to be completely ascot and without water? Even in Corfu he feared they were not much better situated. He trusted if O.: valuation was found too low, that ample compensa tion would be speedily extended to the Pargiotes. Mr. GOULBURN, in. explanation. said, he Alto gether denied the statement of the •Hon. Member, with respect to the mode of paying the valuation money. The whole payments were made either in Spanish coin, or in fractional coins of equal amount. There was no more difference between the fu!l - ntn eut , andahe stipulations, than there would be with as between an agreement to pay a shilling and the pay ment of twelve-pence. Mr. HUME said, that Isis authority. - was the PlO - of General Maitland, of the.9th of June; in which he directed the payment of £IOS.OOO only, making a deduction for good money of 1:42.000. Mr. GOULBURN assured the House, that this circumstance could be most satisfactgilly explained. Lord J. RUSS .U.Z bt iefly replied. He contended that the Parkroiesaiolwithstancling all - that bad averred by Ministers, had been cruelly .used. They T had a right to *vett, as no statement was made to the contrary, that their fate- would have been similar-to that of the inhabitants of the loni an , Ministers had always. declared that they wished to restore Europe to its ancient .situation.— , Instead of ;loi n this, tbey bad overturned, a number of State's. They should have restored'Venice; but they destroyed it, as they had 'aeserOyed Gent:, Fargo, and Saxony. So much for foaming to the old state. He could have Wishedeindeed, that the maxim which the Boa. Gentleman :had inculcated with so much •anxiety.that night,. had only been better observed 2 Voter ntszinte est bon en Tees • ; ?dais qu'est ce gull pourraito l'enfesl rout maxim, Sir, is very wea r " But what has it to do in hell? The motion was then put. and carried.- - uswarT ilr. MA secre. XVilt ary rig"crtiL i reie tt: . : ;.: P iele rp . xi a si OPr o e n tn : itia a .b o Ar m ior m m. iti ne ee ni f am or li th n e W; Lt i umlageTent - ot Industry, praying 'that Parliament would take gips to provide the people Wink proper etiaployment, and • " green* . them frog falling info that state of degradation *WA mastitletritahly ensue, if Iliby were notable, by their 12, hour, to support thsouslyrs.—Laid on the CAW. . . . COrTON-Wga,lialttl. Mr: MAXWELL, in rising Cd'hiove for a Select Committee to inquire into the nature of the distress by which the Cotton-weavers were affected, and to consider whether there was any, practicable mode by which assistance could be extended tnehenn, felt i: olicessary tamabei ie . * observations explanatory of his reasons for bringing forward - a partial Motion.— When the whole community. were suffering, and the manufacturing districts were plunged in such a state of misery as was now presented—Vk hen. individeals were unable to procure employment, ?nil , found it wholly impossible to maintain themselvese felt that he should have grossly neglected hicsiuty if he had not, before the•close of the Session, called the Serious attention of Government to the distress that prevailed: . If they could not sio.assay thit distress altogether, they might, perhaps, devise some mewls by which it might be alleviated. The table had bees covered with statements, both from the workpeople themselves, and from the 'Magistrates, detailing to the House and to the Government tle extent of the slivery that prevailed. They admitted that great inn cation existed; but they traced that irritation to the severe privations to which the lower classes of the community had unfortunately been too long exposed. .He was astonished that Ministers, who had extended relief to particular individuals, and even to the Throix • lf; should have overlooked these frequent ;ans.— Thesdistress which they had endeavoured to avert -could not for a motnent be placed in competition with that which he bad &scribed. When a motion for a Committee to consider the state of the manufacturing population was submitted te- the House, it was sus fused; and yet he conceived it might as well hare been acceded to, since, if measures were not devised * . the relief of that populatim, it would at leaa have shewn that Parliament were ready to listen :k3 their complaints. They were.told by Ministers th.. , t co Reforw was required—that they anxiously con.i dered by what means they could diminish the pivt , sure of distress, which weighed down the . worth ...: classes; but, in his opinion, the greatest proof tIL: could be adduced in favour of Reform„ was the co: - slant refusal of inquiry. When Q 5 per cent, had bet-t . added -so the Taxes, in order to meet the interest ..: the National Debt—that offspring of the most w-i - con and lavish t spenslittire that any country had eta witnessed—ought they not to inquire whether son,' mean might not be discovered by which as iit., Son- might be Made to that industry on fo'lli:.) those grievous burdens were imposed? While de mister manufac;urers, and other classes,of stxier, *ere rioting in every species of loamy, the iwvw Aparetive labourer was placed in a simaticat degri-1- -I_,g to the character of the country..(Hear, hear) , The House ought to listeo to their cornpkaints, an- 1 prove the .fallacy -of ;hose arguments• which vr.c founded on the general feeling that Parliament pa:A no - attention - to' the PioAe. Lek diem hank ID 1.4 cotton trade. They pursued it in waits.- It Wati tog' . trig from them, likeran.ignit.lighns. - . f .. t was gre tiss 1:5 and less every - hour. Many ladiiitioa! , - '" iced - ,t . - 1