Star. — London, England, 1826-02-08 00:00:00

t Itlr. WILMOT-HGRTNC admitted, 'that the Commi•sion her: been sent rut fete general purposes, but stated that it had been delayed ht thr pushy?' of those purposes by the necessity to which hookbeen driven of investigating individual complaints. lasear stluraler of that delay, no general Report had yet been recanted., 1:e did nut think it proper; in the prestnt circumstanes, that the' p otial Report of which Government was in fins.eision should be nude public. Mr. DENI-SON held in his hand a Petition from Mr. Kettrick, the substance of which, with the permission of the Howse, lie would state at briefly as possible. Toe Pethion of courseseferred to the charges which his Hon. and Learned Friend near him was again about t i prefer against that 1 - onourab!e Magistrate. Af,er referring t the - charges, and to the proceedings had thereon during the last Se Sion of Parliament, the petitioner expressed flis anxious wish for the fullest enquiry, and has eon& deuce that whenever such enquiry took place he wairld he ah'e to exonerate himself from every imputation, The Petitioner then went on to state, that he was advised, and believed that the evidence of the Right Honour :6:e L-rd Middleton was important and necessary for his defence, and humbly to pray that a message might be sent Zion that Honourable House to the House or Peers, requesti g permission for the attendance of that Peer t gve evidence at their bar. Tice Petitioner fur ther prayed that he might have due and sufficient no. tice, when the charges against him sere to be entered upon. Tie lion. Memb r tit -n procee.fed to say that if charges of cling the character or we.fare of tai- poor est infie!itant of the county of Surrey, had b en brought forward in that House, lie w uid have felt it to be his duty to attend and watch most anxiously the progress, of the it triiry. The situation of the Hon. Person now nod accusa.ion was, fin innately for himself, extremely i different from that he had just put. To him his humble advocacy could not he necessary, and might be injuii ens. As a Welsh Judge, he had two Learned Colleagues' Members of that House. The talents of the Honourable and Learned Attorney and Solicitor-General would no doubt also be exerted to protect him. if necessary, (rain any degree of injustice. In such circumstances, he felt that it might appear like presumption in him to interfere further in the case. In the more competent !:ands he had mentioned, therefore he would now leave it, after taking the necessary steps to give effect to the Petition he was about to present. • Of Lord Middleton it was impossible to speak too highly as a Magistrate; be was sore that Noble Lord would wil lingly attend to give evidence before the House, and the man did not exist whose evidence would be entitled to greater weight. Mr. 1) F:N MA N seconded the motion for bringing up the Peti tion. He could have no other wish than that every person shoOld appear at their bar, whose evidence might be supposed likely to throw any light upon the transactions. His principd object, how. ever, in rising, was to state his intention of postponing the examina tion of witnesses from Monday to Tucsdly. Mr. DRS ISO N gave notice of hi, intention to move on Thurs day cleat, that a Message be sent to the House of Lords, requesting meir Lordships' permission for the intendancv sat Viscount Middle. tor., to give evidence at their bar. Tire CHANCELL9it of the T.XCIIF.QUER presented his Majesty's gracious Answer to the Address. Mr. JULIA FFE presented a Petition from certain inhabitants of the llorou;;Is of lluntingJnn, complaining of an illegal and uncon stitutional limitation te the elective franchise in that Borough, and praying redress; .19 also a Petition from r. Samuel Wells to the tame six wecks. to be tarn into this day Mr. ROBERTSON presented a Petition from a person of the ranee of lluriidge, asserting the prevalence of dry rot in the Navy, and mentioning certain ships as being particularly affected by at. • Sir ISAAC COFFIN kaew the Petitioner well; if he were to 1, 6 hethyri, terry ship in the Navy watt rotten ; for Lis own part, Intialv duh.il.tr...l all tin witenieuti el thy rcti4i9lNl. • _ . . Mr. PLUME, whilst he admitted the proneness or the Petitioner to exaggeration, thought it harsh in any Honourable Member to employ such language as he had just heard. He, for one, firmly believed that inure expense bad been incurred in patching up .4J ships, than might have been sufficient fur the creation of an entire salty. • Alt. CIIOKER. from what he k :ew. .of the former statements o• the Petitioner, did not think him eot;tled to any attention whatever. He was almost inclined. i..deed, ooubt the soundness of his judgment. If thei ll•ntse mere to Like notice 4 f every idle fancy which might come lute the beads of such individuals, it wohki . spend a great deal of time meat unprofitably. He was in possession of corn. munications from this Petitioner, by which, if necessary, he could chew - him to be utterly unworthy of credit. He had the satisfaction of being able to state most confidently, that at no former period had our v.:toy been in a sounder state than at present. lie felt ennfident that the House would pay no attention to the insane asset'. rims Oldie Petitioner. Si: ISAAC COFFIN had been pestered for three years coutiutially by this Petitioner. lie would have it that every ship In the N4v yw .s rotten, and thAt mrnse and useless expenses were incurred in ineffectual attempts in guard against this evil. lie was not, like the lion. Member for Aberdsnn, a man who understood every possible profession, who w... koidier and sailor, and everything else; be bad been a naval otfizcr for many years, and he understood enough of his own proles, on, when pestered by staientents that every ship in the Navy was rotten, to say plainly that he did not believe one word of ti. MILIT %RY AND NAVAL PaNSIObTS. 4r. MABERLY expressed his apprehension that mischief would eventually occur from the situation in whicli the Bank of Eng!and was placed by its contract with Government for the payment cf the Military and :Naval Pensions. The contract could not be fulfilled wilrout leading to an ex .es..ive issue of paper. C tn tidesing this subject in conjunction with that of our other fl atii.g or unliquidated debt, he considered it a grou d for seri us alarm. The Exchequer Bills now owl riding, and the dead weight t setLcr, formed an wiliqiikiated debt which could not be ',Hided by the creation of le.s than one hundred millions ,-f stock.. What mould be the situation of the country s i h this terlib'e amount of unl quidat.'d debt, if it shoi.l,l here• alter appear that the at my which the Ernperot of Austiia his eorl.cttd r n his fiontieis, under the buspicious name rat a Cordon Sanit..ire, is really intended to meet some trier Army, and not to stay the progress of disea.e? The lion. Gentleman proceeded to state his intention of moving for a Committee of Finance, if the Right Honourable Gentleman opposite, %when he lays his financial plans bcfore the House, does not propose some sati.factory measure to guard against the danger he had pointed our. The lion. Gentlem coucluded by moving for an Account of the Sums paid by the Batik of ling. Lind, in pursuance of its contract wilt Goths -meta, for the pay. tent of the Alilitary and Naval Pensions, and au Account of the Sums hereafter to become due. Also fur au Account of the amotnit and computed value of the Annuities transferred, or to be cranferred, by Government to the Wilk, in pursuance of tile HOUSEHOLD TROOPS. . - Mr. HUME had given notice of a motion for At e -trots of the number of Officers of the Oxford r. mined on full pay, notwithstanding the rtduction o t...e troops to which they li.rd belonged, and of t h e atatlitinnal expense thereby imposed up..n th, country ; and for Ace nuts also of the manner in which vac antic• in that corps had been tilled N.. It was hi. ititeialien extend his moil •rt so far u to make it apply also to the Li e Guards and the Foot GuArds. The ACCOUII3 o tl a Regiments he had metro lied, were Le t in a 'sits Der thgetent from any other part of t e arm). were, in truth, exempted from any ilf:ctual e x it. Q ration. No abstract was rendered to any resinni stbleOnoter, .cut the accaun,s were hand•d to In M4p&iy.in per.nu, and from .tot to the WAl•tiffiCre adiese , no regular or satistactory at:dit took place. l hat ilOtist. had vt.t.t.d ta-t star upv arcs of that hunch of the military service. Surely that sum was much too large to be expended without the usual and necessary checks to eisappliclittoo. In th 6 opinion he was not rtt all shaken;altfibegb a Board cif-General Offic,ees which - Sad sat upon • the :sittajettdid not see, any oecessity fur alteration. A sterner pool of the faeces.' sity of alteration could not, he thougt.t, be teqtrirea,l than the - expense to the country of every man in thew.' r .giments, compared sei:h the expense per man, of the regiments of the line; The annual expense incurred-for. each man in the Life Gual ds, was upwards of 741. in the Horse Guards Blue it was very little' less, in the Foot Guards, 561. and in Regiments of the Line it was ,only WA It was surely strruge that the expense of a roan in one regiment should be' double than in another; but they had only themselves to thank, for, if that House would vote large sums of money Without taking sale that there should be - a strict and satisfactory audit, vi hat could be expected but that some improper appropriation li would take place? He would now advert to the specific, irregulatity which his motions had in view. Why, he wo , Id ask, should Officers be returned on full pay in those favoured regiments, after the reduction of their clamps or companies, ortre than in other corps ? At the end of the war, it had become necessary, with a view to the relief if the publ c hoidens, to reduce many regiments, and to place a great number of the Officers of almost every regiment upon half pay, tia, by the occur rence of vacancies, they might be again established upon' full pay. He was sorry to say that this just and econo mical I rinciple had not been adhere) to, but that, on the contrary, new men had received the vacant Commissions, in contempt of justice to :he old Offices s,,and in disregard to augmentation-of the public exp. nditure which that cruidoct must produce. The Oxford Blues had two troops added to them in the year 1812, and when those two troops we r e tesiliced, at the conclusion of the war, the Officers were retained upon full pay. It was difficult to perceive upon what ground the distinction in favour lof that Regiment was made. The fact itself of such distinction was surely enough to establish the necessity for his motion. His plincipal reason for extend ng his motion to the Foot Guards, was information he had re ceived of irreguldrities in filling up vacant commissions by the introduction of new names, instead of resoying to the Half-pay List. He would mention some instances which had come to his knowledge. Lieutenant Knox, who had died, had been succeeded by a Mr. Bigot, who moreover received his commissie.n without purchase, instead of the vacancy thus created being filled up from the supernumeraries or ball pay of the regiment. Hon. Members may think that seven or eight shillings a d.iy is an . bject of too trivial importance to be thus brought on 'et: the notice of the House; but when so many thAr sand families in the country were reJuced by the pres sure of taxation to a situation which rendered even a smaller sum of infinite importance to them, he could not take that view of the subject. lie would mention another instance in the Foot a Guards. that of Mr. Torrens. The Hon. Member proceeded to mention another instance. When the various Returns, for which he should move, were laid before the liouse,it would then be seen whether further proceedings were necessary. The lion. Gentleman concluded by moving— t. For a Return of all the Officered the Life Guards, the Royal Horse Guards Blue, and the Foot Guards, Dow on full pay, the troops or companies to which they respectively belonged having been reduced. s. for an irrtnunt of 'Wray and allowances of such Others since ate :eduction oi their troop or toinpany, with a Statement of the difference between such pay and allowances, and those to which they would have been entitled if upon half pay. 3. For an =fount of all vacancies which have occurred in the above rejiments since the reduction of any troop or company, with the manner in which they have severally been filled up. Lord PALMERSTON did not use for the purpose of opposing the motion of the Hon. Gentleman-. He could not but think it, however, a more convenieriei course for Hon. Gentlemen, after having given notice of motions, to limit those motions to the terms of their notice. The footing on which the regiments in question stood in respect to their accounts, was certainly different in some degree from that of the military service gene rally. When the last alteration in the manner of ren dering the accounts of regiments was adopted, those corps had not been included in its operation; they were left, in regard to this subject, in the same situation in which they, in common with the whole army, previously stood. The Hon. Gentleman was, however, greatly mistaken if he imagined that the expenditure of those regiments was therefore left without any effectual con. troul, or that the accounts did not undergo a rigorous examination. It the accounts were not furnished in the same form and with the same detail as the accounts of other regiments, he could nevertheless assure the Hon. Gentleman that they were Fresented in sufficient detail, and examined with sufficient minuteness, to prevent the possibility of any misapplication of the regimental funds. If the charge for those regimen's appeared to he excessive, as compared with the expenses of other corps, it should be remembered that they.paid the ex pense of recruiting, and various other expenses, out of the regimental fund, which, in the case of all other re gim n4s, mere - provided for by special issues. It was deemed more consistent with the peculiar nature of this branch of the military service to retain an extra ordinary number of supernumerary Officers upon full pay. A great number of Officers belonging to these distingui,lied corps belong to the S aff, and ate conse quently liable to be frequently withdrawn from the regimental duty; on these( ccasions the supernumerary officers supply awir pl ces. He w •old assert, that since 1814, all vacancies hsve been supplied from the halt. pay-list, unless in the case of Officers retiring, who were r s•ntitle.f to sell,. There was one case of exception which he would mention. At the battle of Waterloo the Major of one of those Regiments fell in the action. All the in'erior Officers took a step in rank, arid the vacancy created was tilled up by giving a commission to the brother of the Major who had so fallen. In the in stances which the 'Mon. Gattleman had mentioned, the individuals who waived the commissions had been Pages to the King : after a youth had served in that capacity for a certain mini ber of years, it was understood that he was to have a Cornetcy or Rpsigncy, at the first opportunity, without purchase, in the Guards. That had been a long established practice, and could nut, he ven- turned to say, be considered objectionable. Ile would mention further with respect to the number of Officers retained MI lull pay, that several had been so retained in the Guards, because they having very recently purchased from half to full pay, there appeared to be peculiar hardship in again so immediately seducing them. Tyr Cli A NCEI.I.OIt of the EXCHEQUER moved that this House resolve itself into a Committee of the whole House for a motion of Supply. The motion was put and carried, and the Report. ur♦ered to tie presented te-morrow. The House then Adjourned till so-morrow. Firtv-seven Peas Lave been excu ed from the balio, f r L nds to attsnd the bracing of appeals. RUSitAN LOAN, NE.GoCIATI.O BY MR. N. M. itOTtle cutup, 3:4 I..tiNtion.-11se flail Yearly Dividend on the .Hour Loan, which locunies due on WrAIIIIIOIT, the lit of Msieh neat, wi I tee paid by Mr. N. M. Itomecisseu, on that and every stic zetdit.g day, between the hours of Too and TWO, at bib Counting h Atte, No. C., New-court. Thr Dividend Wangisiti., with a list hereof, in nunierteJl order, must be left one day previous to pay went, for be purpose of being rammed. , ; s'Astkit-7 • - LONIION. :WEDNESDAT, FEBRUARYS. IS9. Asir WICOOMMOAT— MIMI* AT Tar RM. • • STOCK EXCHANGE, TWELVE O'CLOCK. This is a Holiday at the Bank, but the Stock Exchange is open, as-well as the Foreign kiarket. Consols opened at 791 fur the Account, and are at the presen ' time 791 with little doing. In the Foreigps Market nothing is doing. Current Prices: 01k1 Spanish 114 4, Mexican 6541, Colom bian New 574 4, Russian 83 4. Greek Bonds 15 4. EXCIIANGE. Luzon, JAIL 21.—0 n London, al.' FRENCH FUNDS, nuns, FURUARY 6. Five per Cents. . . 99f. Three per Cents. •. . 65f. 60e. Bank Steek . 9035 f. Ilaytian Loan . 785 f. The following were the prices of united States Stock nn the 15th tilt.—At New York, Six per Cents. of 1813, 100 to 100 ; of 1814, 101 to 102 ; of 1813, 102 to 104; Five per Cetus. of 1820, 100; Three per Cents. 80. FORICIG N FUNI/S, TWO O'CLOCK Au•rrian lids 5 p et. Alex. Scrip, Brazilian Bond., 55 Ncepollten Bowls Ditto Acct. l'ertnr. 13ds, 6p C. Do.SCrip,s p C. 11125, Ditto Acct. titienos Ayres Bonds Ditto &rip, 1825,6 p C. Chilian Bonds, 6 p Ct. Portuguese Bonds Colombian Bd.. 5 p C. Pros'. Lids. i p C. 93* 1 Do Lids 1824, s'l A 1 6j7 61 Do. Bonds, 16112, DI). Ace. 57i 6 7 6i Russ. &IN% 622, 6p C. 831 Danish linnds, Ditto Acct. 83; A Do. Marks Span. 5 p Ct. C. 11 A Do.lids. 3 pC. 1825, 58 Ditto tor Ace. Ditto Acct. Ditto 510, Greek Bonds Span. sp. Ct. C. 1823, D. this, 1825, French amtes, 5 p C. Ditto Acct. 15} Exchange, s:ex. Bonds 5 p. Ct. 511 French Hewes, 3 p C. Ditto Acct. 5 p C. Exchange, Do. 8da,1825,5 pC. 651 5 4} ,Guatentala Bonds, 1 Do. Acct. 65A A S j 4j Ditto Scrip BRITISH AND FOREIGN SHARES, TWO O'CLOCK ram. Anglo Mexican spm. 100 40 Angle, Cbilian 100 5 Colombian 100 - 5 - Potosi. 1.1 Paz, & I'erue. 50 5 United Aielican 40 21 . 0 Ditto New 40 12i I'4 If arine Alliance 100 5 5e firriti4h Iron Company . 100 45 13 14 Podrl Fishery, Yellow (iss..Clo par) 25 2 Si I'rovincial Bank of hamar' 101) 3O 51 While we are acquainted with the outline only of the measures to be proposed on Friday, for the improve ment of the currency, and are ignorant of the many modifitations and minuter details • with which they are likely to be accompanied, it would be premature to enter on an investigation of the adequacy of those measures to accomplish the object in view. This object, we conceive, is simply to prevent a recurrence of those evils which have. recently afflicted the country ; and it is expected to . be .attained by restraining the issue of local Bank notes. On. prineyle, therefor:, it is • inferred, that the super. abundance of ti.e circulating medium in paper created .the mania for speculation. We think, on the contrary, for mote reasons than we can now adduce, that the thirst for specu!ation created the excess of paper. One signal testimony of the roundness of this opinion may, however, be mentioned. On the opening (that is im tibrdiately after paying the dividends) of the Reduced Three per Cents. in April, 1823, this Stock sold for 751. At the like period, in October following, it sold for SS; but nn the same occasion, in April, 1824, it advanced to 95k. Now the official account of the Stamps sold for country bank notes stands as follows: In the year 1821 1822 1823 1824 1823 This is in the same proportion as the following numbers— ' 1821 1922 1823 110 902 1824 ' 173,900 1823 So that, prior to 1824, title Country Bank issues only in creased, as compared with 1821, in the first year 54 per Cent. and in the second year 164 per Cent. at which last period, however, the Three per Cent. Stock in creased in price from 754 to 95} ,'which was very pearly the highest amount they ever attained. At this point it will be found that speculation began to rage with ten-fold fury ; and accordingly the Cour try Bank issues increased in the third ye sr, 7.1 per Cent. and in the fourth and last year, 1031 per Cent. Is it not, then, as dem- as demonstration, that the mania of speculation created the excessive issues? After all to what extent have tkose issues reached? The stubborn unanswerable fact is, that the total excess of Country Bank notes, in the year 1825, over that of 1821, is only about four millions and a quarter. We by no means undervalue the effect of such an excess ; .but would only compare its probable conse quences in producing the recent distresses with she effect of speculation at the same time. It is stated in detail, by the author of the Letter to Mr. Pert, that in the last four years the amount of l.'ans lent byEnglish capitalists to Foreign Powers, is equal to the tremendous sum of sixty Arse millions and a half 1--It has, moreover, ap peared, by a careful analysis lately inserted in all the Journals, that the subscribed capital to the various Joint Stock Companies lately formed throughout the nation, was about two hundred millions, of which no less than ten per cent. on the whole, or twenty millions, had been paid up by our wise and prudent countrymen ! Ard this is altoge her in addition to the excessive im:sortations from foreign countries. Alter this fright ful statement, to say that the country bankers, by..their over-issue of four millions and a quarter, created the digress which has overwhelmed this deluded nation, is mere nonsense ; and. as we stated before, such an assertion is only calculated to make them the scape 4oat, instead of the real authors of the cahmisy. And who are those who) s ?--They are, w e lament to say, the high and m%ebt y of the laud ; treasons whom 'no one has the towage to assail and drag into open day. We see with shame, that Pa►liamentary impeach. ments are threatened and carried on against this Goveraor, and against that Justice of the Peace. enquiries are insftuted into the perquisites of this, or the other troop of hr►rse. But who is there to enquire into the conduct of tl►ose who lent their names, their characters, and public reputation for integrity as decoys, to ensnare the ignorant and con fiding reople of this cotintry into desperate and mad adventures? Lent their public reputation ?—why, they sold it for so much gain? and this they avow with their own lips, in the face of day, before the whole world. A scheme as uncertain as a Lottery is pro. posed; it is patronized by three r.r four Members of onr august Senate; their names are blazoned forth as co•adventurer►; their talents and general knowledge of affairs ate well known, and the public believe that they have carefully investigated the chances of success before embarking their private fortunes on the event. But have they so embarked their property in proof of their honest conviction that the scheme is profitable? Nut one latching; but, on the contrary, they make a pro. perty of this their reputation--they sell the shares entrusted to them, as their particular adventure, when the fame of their own integrity, and the nefarious arts of their accomplices, have raised tho e shares to a pre mium, and then they sneak out of the concern alto gether, or at least as far as any hazard to their own pro perty is concerned. They pocket the profit—and avow they have so done—and yet they know full wtll that the persons who paid this profit grt no value from them in returneither in the shape of services or advances. But they escape with; impunity, for no one dares to accuse thVsn• We have received the French Papers of Monday, and the kloile of yesterday, by express. The latter is principally occupied with a re(crt of the proceedings in the British Parliament, and extracts from the Com mercial Treaty between this country and France. In the sitting of the Chamber of Deputies, the appoi„t. meat of M. RATE; to be President during the Session, was announced ; and M. RAVPE returned thanks. An article from Odessa, of the 17th ult. states, that the conspiracy at St. Petersburgli appears to have had more extensive ramifications than was at first beieved Accounts from Bessarabia state, that four Generals, and many Officers of the Staff, had been arrested 7.nd sent into the interior of the Empire. It has been for some time rumoured, but!perhapi prematurely, that this army is to be dissolved ; it however appears certain that the late EMPaRoR was aware that a conspiracy existed itt the army, and that some days before he was taken ill, he had charged Count Ctraxtractrarr to invest ig.ite The EMPEROR'S indisposition is stippo,ed to hive de layed the execution of this measure. bq the .C:;unt, but the new ExPenon has been equally informed of the views of this faction. The Mute denies the report that a rew treaty has been entered into with Spain, by uhich the • Freilch troops are to occupy the strong towns in Spain fir three years longer. Lieutenant• General ROTH, who arrested the Russian Colonel Mounavim, and put down the revolt, is a Frenchman, born in Alsace. Te Lleile gives some further details of the late events before Missolonglii. Irma rum Pacira had not himself proceeded to Etolia, bat the siege was •till con ducted by the Seraskier, who made a new and very vigorous attack, the latter end of December, on the town, with about 15,000 men. The attaoic was well directed by the Egyptians, who advanced on several points ; but they were repulsed in great disorder, and the victory was considered as complete. It is said that PACIIA, mortified at this defeat, v. ill bring his army from the north of the Morea, and attack Misso longhi himself. New York Papers to the 17th ult. have been received at the North and South American Cr.ffee-house, by the Manchester, artived at Liverpool, but they contain no news of importance. The principal subject befole Congress, was a Bill for amendiag tl.e judicial system in the United States. The differences betw, en the General Govetnment and the State of Georgia had not been adjusted. It was expected at Washington that a special mess ge *fluid be transmitted to Congress on the 'object. Governer Taour was lying dangerously ill at Milledgeville, is Georgia. _ _ The Sena'e of the United States had not decided gs to the conarmation of the Ministers nomina ed to attend the Assembly of Panama. Lisbon Gazettes to the 3lst ult. reached us this fore noon, from which we make the following extracts : LISBON, J•M. 24. A Royal Dectee orders that the measures prescribed by his Majesty's Decree of 19th Nov. last, fur diminish ing the disbursements of the Royal Treasury, shall be extended to all the cities and towns of those kingdoms and their dependencies ; and chat in the Culunies, when the Magistrates, on occasions of the entry of new Prelates or Governors, order the inhabitants, as usual, to illuminate their houses, such illuminations shall not be made in the fortresses and public buildings at the ex pense of the public treasery. Yesterday being the birthday of her Majesty the Empress of BRAZIL, it was kept with great splendor at Court. JAN. 30.—The Gazette contains a Royal letter to the Governor of the Azores, declaring that it is fully prove., that the charges brought against some of the inhabitants, who had voted an address to his hlasaesyr, soliciting Alm continuation of the late Governor in his office, are wholly unfounded, (gibe, and calumnious, those persons ,aving, in giving this testimony of te4 ect to thei." d it • e e It is K ts 1- I I 6 fl 0 ;e t• le DT le ,f, ig re 3S 1