Star. — London, England, 1813-02-12 00:00:00

. s ti te in each a stainer al e iiik 'tsStriiiiced 'the c ,,,,e /7 would wish to see such a frOVicted for. u n der all these circumitaykr, lie spi t ed the Orekent ;wo re would meet the toppOrt of the House.. lit co ncluded by moving the 'second Vending of the Bill. Mr. BANKES igreitd Folly in tbestateinent whiCh had been made of the deplerible State of buaineis at r esent in the Court of Chancery. The system exist leg at present *as attended with such delays of jus tice, as to fall khdrt of nothing less than an absolute d e nial of it 1 btu the luestion now under . consi'dera. lion was, 'Whether the proposed measure would prove a remedy for the evil ? 'she Hon. Gentlernan then en-i tered into a .review of the pt ovisiorfs of the Bill, and contended, that it would not have that effect. The , tirst orovisicin of the Bit*, he ecrnteridekl i would fail.— • The early attendance of the Chancellor in the Haute . , if I•orer, waWd net jnture the attendance of other peers. They would not attend now occasionally, and WA s it to be expected they weidd c omply wit h t h e pro visions of this Bill, which required their attendance e,gelarly? Thus, the Chancellor would attend in vain, tia! waste his valuable time to no purpose, whilst a Deputy, of ksstalents, perhaps; would be sitting in the Court of Chancery, to ',dispose of the business there. The Hon. Gentleman then adduced the me- Motable instance, the trial of Mr. Hastings, as a proof of the little inclination which existed in the House of Peers to attenclio private business. That important prosecution, on the conductors of which the eyes of tit whole empire bad been turned, had languished for years, to the disgrate ache public justice of the ctun uy. b efore it was brought to a decision. He was of Opinion dish This measure, W adopted, instead of relies ingtheChaticellor, would increase his labour, andleave hint less time. The Bill gave the power of appeal from et,' ,, . Deputy to the .Chancellor. Was it to be sup posed the Deputy would he a person of greater abi lity than the present Master of the Rolls ? and was it to be supposed there would be fewer appeals to the Chancellor than there were at present ? For this rea son, the sill would, in his opinion, proie no remedy for the evil.—He was one of those who could not see pie radical objections which bad been stated by his Nrble Friend to separating the offices of Speaker of t:"e House of Lords and CninCellor. He was ready t. , allow it was a rdeasUre to be deprecated. It was certainly expedient and desirable that the person )ohtlirg tht Great Seal should he Speaker of the Lords; but he saw nd evil which could arise from a tonpordry • eparation of the offices till the present int..si.le of business was a little diminished. He also thaug'.4.: the Chancellor might derive more assistance rtan he at present did from the Mastt:r of the Rolls. Tare were also many thing's which might be done by the Officers at present existing to release the Chancellor from labour. If, howeVer, there must be Some new Officer appointed, let it be to release the Chancellor from some great branch of his labour.— The Honourable Gentleman then adverted w the business of bankruptcies, which, if taken from the Chancellor ; would afford him an opportunity of dis posing, of the arrears of causes. The office of Lord Chancellor, he was ready to allow, should be amply, nobly, and munificently paid, and so as to enable him, on his retirement, to support his rank among the Nobility, He ttumght nothing should be taken frem it ; but if there was a new Judge necessary, he should be paid by the Public. His objection to the Bill was not on motives of economy, but because he teat persuaded it would fail in its object;—it Would eerhaps relieve the . Chancellor of dine detctiptiin of labour, but it would . Impoie another , an d p ro b a bl y a ireater 14hour upon him ; initead of adopting a measure which would increase the appeals to the Chancellor, he saggested whether it would not be Letter that the appeal froM the Master of the Rolls to the Chancellor shoidd be taken away ? After re capitulating hit objection to the Bill, he concluded by moving, as an amendment, 'a that instead of now, il . .e Bill should be read a seicoad time this litly six indntilt.' Mr. M'DONALD said; the fiiit question to be onsidered was, what part of his duty the Lord Chan cellor could, with least danger to the system, be - re- YE vett Irom t The Chancellor was the guardian of pibiic and private property in his Court ; dismiss the Mace and great seal, and let an infeitit 'Sefton sit in tiv2 . Court of Chancery, and let any one say whether iNeit.a measure would be attended with no difficulty or danger ? attd it there was to be an appeal to the Chancellor, to the "Chancellor people would go at las; ; and therefore . no advantage would be gained b me Bill. Why not take off from the Chancellor tin branch of bankrupts business, a branch of busi. seas which had, irk fact, nothin to do with equity, but which was said to octupjr a fourth Of the Chan tellor's time. It was now proposed to create a new Judge ; before that measure Was adopted, he thought it should be first enquired whether there were not nine Judges already in existence who had time to spar '1 he Judges of the Courts of Westminster Hill every one would allow had sufficient to occupy ttir time ; btit there were persons entitled Welch Lidges—there were two for each circuit, and so little had they to da, that the well-known story, " Jack, wilat are you doing ?"—" Nothing, Sir."—" Tom, are you about ?"—" Helping Jack, Sir," -H 'Geld apply to these Learned persons. Theie were tight of these Judges; four, in his opinion, would be fully sufficient for the dispatch of the Welch business, ar,cl the other four would form a most excellent Court for the dispatch of bankrupts business: But it was Said the Chancellor drew a considerable portion of his revenue from this branch of his labours : be it so. lie had no doubt but the country would be willing to Pay its first Law Officer, if necessary, 116,000, cr even £lB,OOO per annum, for the-support of his dignity. The Hon. Gentleman then adverted to the part of the Bill which made the Deputy entirely de lknclant on the Chancellor, and contended that this was conixary to the constitutional doctrine, which said that Judges should be above influence of any kind. He concluded by declaring his &mutt from .he ' - )porting the amendment. supported the measure—a tam )udly called for by the state of busi. of Chancery, and appeals before the 'miler of appeals at this moment statid f which number one had been stand , seven upwards of eleven years, 39 years, and 77 upwards of five years. itleman then proceeded to state the pending before the Chancellor, and the suitota of the Court must at least . . . ' ' ~siaillitFutbUi '' 1 IA 6 or • alio! an exl Ina en iii d, them a chance of'` 1-- ' Ittkinin.tita . IS; Ilild seen The state selieeil yeaA. _ V ' or - Wit' upwards of r Stect NIUE 2 L netore the Houle 'Of teinnitnill, Yet tie.those ieartied and able Gentlemen; vko Jed t eight t)po s al the i preseit ineiiitre, had liiipoied itity remedy for the evil. The Hon. Gentleitutn 'o:bld not but totitiider, it as )tighly iinproper, itiodivOst the Lord dtanc*llor of the powers w hi c h he now enjoys hyileciding in cases of bankruptcy, and to give that power to a per son who was merely to be hie Lordsbip's assistant.. Such a measure *onld be a manifest injustice to the great commercial interests of this coAutry:: He was sorry that his couittily was so Wsimonious; in its legal establishments. Even in the Coorts of Common Law, assistance, in his opinions was (re— quently wanting, in consequence of the greet in crease of business in them Our Judgefffo* have no leisure as formerly ; an d h e quoted Frirlte'seue De Laudihw Legum ifiglittp to spew, that in the time of Henry VI. " the Judges met at eight O'clock in the forencion, and sat till eleven cOniplete ; and then re tired, either to consult with Serfeants ot others, their Counsel, or else to study the law." such was not the case in the Common Law Courts'; and the in crease of busineis in them is so great, that it it im possible for the Lewd Chancellor to receive assistance from airy of the Puisne Judges, is was the base in Lbrd Hardivick's time. Mr. COURTENAY felt malty *refi objec tions to the Bill ; so much so, that he would give his vote against it. One of his greatett objections to it %vat, that he thought it went to sacrifice the first judicial dignity in the kingdom. The very great number of Scots Appeals he considered as improper to occupy the time of the icduse of Lords, when they might be detided in that 'country, where it mutt be supposed the law and the fact would be tnore easily laid down, from their tnore near acquaintance *ith both. For his own part, lie thought a separation of the jurisdiction in cases of bankruptcy from the other business in the Court of Chancery, might be very safely made. Amongst the other Courts in West minster Hall, there might easily be found a judge to proceed in equity, by taking on hint the decision of the bankrupts y cases. The arrear oftauses in the Court of Exchequer *tete as great, it not greater, that tbdse in Chancery ; and it this principle were acted upon application thight soon be made for assis tance to the Judges in that Court. The Hon. Gen tleman concluded by opposing the Bill. Mr. SMITH said, that the very facenf the Report of a Committee on the delay in the hearing of Ap peals Mewed that four-fifths of the Appeals in arrear were from Scotland. Why then did they not, rather than resorting to this new expedient, look for a re medy f.r this evil in . the country where that evil ori ginated ? The natural course, in his opinion, would be, to rectify still further the mode of proceeding in the Scotch C6urts. It had been proved by Mr. Cow per, in the House of Lords, that 19-20ths of the Ap peals which came before their Lordships are vexa tious and dilatory. He considered as highly dan gerous to destrby, by way of experiment, the highest judicial authorities in the eountry. Mr. Serjeant BEST considered the evil of deliy in the hearing of Appeals in the House of Lords as amounting to a positive denial of justice, and should be assuaged by some such measure as proposed by the present Bill. Added to the increase of appeals from Scotland, those froth Ireland had been also brought under the jurisdiction of the House Of Lon!c. For this reason, and the general increase of business in Chancery, he would support the motion. Mr. M. A. TAYLOR propoSed that one of the Lhsv Lords Would sit as Speaker of the House or Lords, in order that the Lord Chancellor might ale: ply to the other business of his stations; as had been done frequently by Lord Hardwick,. If any lawyer (said Mr. Taylor) will take upon himself to say the Bill will remedy the evil complained of, I will vote for it.— An Hon. Member here called out will."—(4llauj4). Mr. T. however declined taking his opinion on the subject. Mr. CANNING contended, that with all dill, re spect to the House of Lords, that House would not be justified in adopting a measure merely because it came down to them from thiutlier. It was against argument and 'common sense to assume, that because the evil originated with the Lords; they, (the Com mons) ought to have more confidence in the remedy they proposed. His I-lon. and Learned Friend had complained that the subject had been treated with too mach levity, but he (Mr. C.) maintained that there 'were circumstances which might make ridicule not incompatible with serious and Sober discussion. There were two ways of removing the evil complained of— one was to empty the reservoir, the other to stop the channel—the one to get rid of the causes already on hand, the other to prevent new ones cbtning. This measure, he was of opinion would increase the evil, as it would oblige the Lord Chancellor to try the causes twice instead of once. It would be no degradation to the House of Lords if they were to resort to mlea sureb similar to those formerly adopted by the House of Commons, in order to insure a sufficient attend ance to facilitate the dispatch of business. Such a determination would soon lessen the evil complained of and make any other remedy unnecessary. The present measure was perfectly inadequate, and it was ridiculous to talk of sending it to a Corn mittee, to be made what it ought to be. To go into a Committee on it would be to throw away their labour and their time ; and he, therefore, thought the House ought to stop till they could sup ply a more satisfactory remedy. He could assure his Honourable and Learned Friend under the Gal -I.7ry, (Mr- Stephen) that he had no wish to provoke levity ; but the House could not but latigh to see the mountain had produced such a mouse. The unwill lingness of the Learned Gentleman (Mr. Stephen), to countenance any thing like levity on this occasion, brought to his recollection the language of Master Stephen) in Every Man in his Hirmour, who was of opi nion" that every thing should be done gravely, and in a gentlemanly manner,and that nothing but scllemnity should prevail." (4 laugh.) Mr. Canning then corn mented at some length on the restrictions under which 'the new Officer proposed to be treated by this Bill would labour. Serra in the plays Menge in the farce, and Sancho Panza i compared with him, were judges of definite jurisdiction. Like Sancho, the Vice-chan cellor would have the oases prepared and laid before bids, and his.judicial authority would afford matter o f werrinacot to all Litualtind. Hu objected to this THE EVENING STAR. LONDON. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1813. PRICE OF' STOCKS THIS DAY AT ONE 0 CLOCK: 104 5811—Cons. 581 i—eons. for ac. 584 f —4 per Ct. Vl} Sper Cent. 881—Pd.. B‘. 3s. clic —l.g Anne. 1.1 1-16th Exch. bills 4s. 55. pr.—Omniuru nothing done. Paris Papett to tilt Bth inst. hat , : been received. I They contain an article of immense length on the subject of the provitions considered to be necessary for the Administration of France, in the absence or in the event of the demise of BONAPARTZ. It is a dry and unintefesting technical documbnt, 64 of no use to any:person but the others." By far th'etnost important and most agreeable ins telligence these Papers contain, is that which relates' to the once Grand Armyt The VICBROY, the new Lieutenant-General, ♦ice MURAT, dismissed the sera ' vice, informs his blastel• fi - om Posen, that on the 26th ult. the remounts of horses for the Gtand Army were arriving with great rapidity. But Danttic can not be safe ; for great pains are taken by the aforeiald Victrc;y, to prove that it is provisibited for five years! —Notwithstanding of all this, however, it is our humble opinion that it will not hold out five days from the day on which the Russians break ground befbre it. It is now completely insulated—the French and their allies have been driven across the Vistula ; and although they pretend that they keep up strong comthunications from Dantzic to Thorn, their avowal that they are obliged to rendezvous at Posen, and the flight of the KING of PRUSIIA from Berlin to Ereslaw, are sti-ong indications that they have no hopes of retaining a single inch of ground in• Prussia. But Dantzic is not the only place for which they are alarmed ; Stettin, Custrin, and Glo gau are also provisioned for a year. In other words, these places are also given over by the Physicians.— They are all at this moment, perhaps, garrisoned by the Russians. gERTIIIERy the Prince of Neufchatel, has had a se. ♦ere attack of gout in the stomach. The climate of Russia has, no doubt, effected this inroad upon his constitution. He may be regarded as now hor: du combat, and in him BONAPAATE has lost a most able and zealous coadjutor. MActioNistn, the Duke of Taientutit, has also re tired in disgust. On arriving at Dantzic with the 10th corps, he gave up the command to General RAPP, and we shall 'war no more of him. This 10th corps was 30,000 sstrong, even after the defection of the Prussians, according to former French statements. But it has hem infested by the Cossacks for a full month at least since. The truth seems, therefore, to be i that pooz. DlA.cnoxm.a had no longer any men to command when he arrived at Dantzic. Private letters from the coast of FranCe, of the 9th instant, .state, in the most positive and undisguised' terms, that a serious misunderstanding exists between Austria and Franlei occasioned by the peremptory demands of the latter, that Austria shall augment • • tier anziliqrry *engem or trot*. Lion the litter has Oren a n ight 'ref*, ard has express 4 actermination to eye any far ther suers than those iliekly it the iiisposal of Franie. These fetters also ft old, thin Scam. 411.1141101 f *at eiteCtia I to depart miery hoirr co miiiion to thfs'ttioniw. ~• THE LETTkA oil THZ #l,l7iPeiti . . This letter has this Moretti( publisheil by 1147.. M' LL AN, Bay.itreet.:-:-.Witether h Ought to besitaii. sidcred as official,. we cannot deterthese, but irons the. circunistar_ces which stand roe nected* w?th the letter s we think it may be inferred that all the !natters reli die to the separation of the two Illustrions Persocages, will soon be brought before the public in ahont'e shape or other. If we may CieJit the reports in circulation, the CoMinissiorfeYs appointed by his MAJZSTY in 1806, t(via. Lord ERS/CINE, then Lod MaliceHor; Lord GMAT/VILLE, Lord SPANC Las and Cord tt.t.iNftottot - oit) to inquire into the conduit of the fllustriOut Pei r.onage, gave a complete acskuittal as to the thaiet charge brought against her I but, rumoni says, that the Noble Cofnmissiattert stated, that other stliote ciicumatances had been :Worn to, whith gave occa. sion to tinfatotirible imputations, which Went ins of the consideration of his Ma..rasit. After a long defence, prepared, as it is Said, by Mr. Pkiei• . VAIA Lord EL k , altd TitOhlAS Ptoaten, the above report was Confirmed by his Maiirri's then 'confidential set'vants, and it was 'upon this body of evidence that dseleoi was kePated for pUblitation. A chatige of Ministers took plake on the 25th Of March, 1807, which brotaght the legal advlseii oi her Royal Highnesi into pow* They rev iied the proceedings; and on the 21st Of Aptit, of Cabinet, declared not only that the tsi-6 mats chirges were cathPletelydisproted, kit thir, in Air opinion, all the other partictilark of conduit brought in accusation against the iilnstriout perionage, were either satisfactorily contradicted, or rested upon sti. dente of such a nature, and given under such cumstances as rendered it, in the judgment or his Majesty's confidential seitants, undeser'ing of credit. Upon these two verdicts the public and posterity will have to decide ; nor can we think that the day is very distant when the whole of the elm:initial:A •werbatint will be exhibited-. .._.~~ ~~ NAVAL INIELL?GENCE. PLYMOUTH, FEBRUARY 10. Came in the Mary, Thames, Harbinger, Pnd Maier ter transports, from Corunna, and ate sailed again for the Eastward.-.-Arrived the Pt'ways frigate; from a crnize.—Sailcd the CoLissos Man of si•ar to the Westward and the Miss frigate, for Ports. mouth.—:Wind S.W. • the Bill, and supp Mr. STEPHE st , _ re which was l ot nat s in the C ourt r cts• The num in g were 273, of g twenty y ears , L i ? . vi4rds of se v e n Ron. Gentl rv'.ll:ikr of causes "4-tiveds t h at th eaiette fitifee, bi c tith that t went to create a Magistrate Who was not fit to be -inb-oduced into British jurkproddice. Eie denied that hi eras ged to vote for this BM, or 't#4 Niy he did not 'believe that evil to exist, of which he could not doubts or that he, an unlearned Man, was bound to proirnse a leis ob jectionable rentedy: it was hard that' hen the Lords had p l uSsed , eleven years On this subject, that th e CoMmOns should be called 'apt) at 'once to pass the treasure sent down to them. He denied that' theOasu lay upon him or the House of Cv?.titions, ii:d he denied the efficiency of a measure which, whilst the disease was in the head, went as it were to apply a remedy to the great toe., ecling, as he did, that the circumstances of tit; present day ought, not to bound their views while legislating for posr,- rity ; he thought they Otiglit to place the new Officer ; upon firm ground, that he might stand on a Cprin thian eminence, while the Tuscan and the Doric were left below.—Mr. SrepneNs explained. Sir S. ROMILLY said there was an evil to be re medied of a very serious nature. The remedy pro posed was also of a very serious nature, and wonld, labia opinion; prove a greater evil thin that at pre sent Complained of. The present evils however great, Was of a temporary naturevz-the $ ill before the Hotne would, if carried, bring On them one which would be permanent. The House of Lords, though the an - ears had long :been &owing upon diem, bad never tate% any attive measures for removing the evil. They had hater met at unusual hours foi the pipers 'of Indeavouring to get threugh with them) and they had neva. heard an appeal in the abiente of the Lord Chancellor. This a had been the practice of the House to db in fanner times, and in some cases k might be better that the cause should be decided on in his absence, as appeals from his dedsiont frequently came before them. He thoughtthere could be no difficulty ia. procuring the attendance of a sufficient nttraber of Lords to hear MACS in the absen c e o f th e L or d Chancellor, and by this means alone the evil might gradually be removed. He did not think any other remedy was necessarY, and at least he thought what he had mentioned ought to be tried, before a Measure like that now proposed were adopted. —He then noticed the Report of the Committee, which set forth that the fees of bankruptcy which were paid to an officer for the bankruptcy, were accounted lbr by that officer to the Lord Chancellor. A Judge ought never to be paid by fees. in conclusion, he gave it as his opinion, that a greater mischief could nOt be done to the Court of Chancery than would be done by this Bill, if it passed, as it would entirely alter the constitution of the Court. Mr. WETHERAL and the SOLICITOR-GENtitAL spoke in favour of the Bill ; and Mr. PoNsoxiy against it. The House then divided—Ayes, 201—Noes, I 22 Majority for the Bill, 79.—Adjourned at Three o'clock. PoßTSmoiliH, FtEIRL'ARf Hit Majesty's ship Pitotaeincus is recalled front proceeding to Madeira, and has sailed with a :onto* for Guernitey and Jerst.7.—The wind, most part of the day, has been from the Eastward; but it has backed ) and is now at South, and dirty looking. GUENNSEY, FEBRUARY T. Arrived the ship Calcutta, Jona HIGGINSdit thata ter, fi6M Mad: as bbund to gel-York, than by the Two Brothers privateer, of this place: WEYMOUTH, FEBRUARY so. Nothing has washed on shore from the tell tea • yesterday off Portland, that can lead in the least to her name or nation; but it is generally supposed sha had been a foreign ►rig. The privateer that was mentioned yesterday tci be off the Portland Island, captured a loaded brig; and steeled away with hler for the French toast; A signal was instantly made to the SANDWICH luggar, lying in our toad, and she imthediately went in chace ; and by in account we have heard to-Jay from Portland, she i war seen from thence to some fait up with the brig, and little doubts are entertaind but she will retapture het. DPAL, FEBRVARY 11. Sailed his Majesty's ships Postrbiss, Tnisrtt ; thb further to Plymouth, and the lattet to Portsmouth ; and his Majesty's ship SULTAit, Chatham. Came dotim froth the River ) the Unica). ItosEuTs, for bementr_a, and the John; Cuittitemt SCN, for Madeira and Jamaica. Several other ships are now working through the Gulls. The outward• bound all remain. YARMOUTH, FEBRUARY H. Yesterday arrived the WItAf:GLER sloop of w: i s from a cruize off the Texel. Passed through these Road% the Auckland packet, Captain BRIDGE, from dottenburgh, having landed her Mails at Wintetton yesterday evenirg. Remain in the Loads the Solebiyi Vice-Admiral MURRAY. CORN-MARKET, MAR it4.ANE, tEB. IS. .. W^ have a fete arreals of.Wli:at t astwi.e to-day ; bui sales of this article, as well as most otheri, eitremely beery, and nearly at last prices, buyers wilting (briber supplies—ln Barley s hardly ally thing doing; a few sales a iiife.ior Sorts have beeil affected et Is. per (planer loWt:r —There are tome /yeah Oats in (Pont Ireland, which has caused a dinioeis in this trade; and second and ordinary qualities are cluoud at a reduction of is. per quarter—Other articles without alteration. English Wheat 781. 1101, 11511. Pot toe dittel, 48s 521. Fine ditto, tens. 110 s Rape Seed £5O, xse ptr last: Foreign do. 661.1221. I ioseed. iXii. ISBs. live 741. 80s. Coriarder do. pet :.wt. 845.456. Barley 545. 69e. j Caraway, dim., ti is. 965. Malt, 100 s. 109 1 : Carfare do. 9fs. i 1 Ss Ditto But Ware. 115. Wilite Mustard Seed, 20e. SOs. White Peas (boVers) 981. 110 s. ter bushel. Grey, ditto, 84s. rids. Brawn do. 34,. 334 Beans, 1 Gs. 85s. Cltiver 36. d, white, per art; Tick ditto 70. 7c:l. 6.55. 1455, Oats (feed) 211 s. 84.. sly. I !Mtn, red, TOL ISSs. Poland drt0,40,. i.::=. 1 I area. pre butsbel, Hs. MA. Fine Fleur 1051. to I ICs. Secant:a 11./03. to 101 s. Fee welt.