Star. — London, England, 1821-07-04 00:00:00

\ • 4, mo t sap' . `55.% . % ..‘ trial cogtl before October next, in sequence of the e ronation, the preparations for 1 lay dugs in Westminster till e. amps and august ceremony, which was to be the solemn compact between the King and his People, by which he swore to govern them according to law, was to be the cause of de priving one individual of liberty for six months.— This .unfortunate man had already suffered much ; his imprisonment had proved the ruin of his trade, and the recent death of his wife had left him with a young unprotected family, without the means of sup porting them. He (Mr. Hobhouse) must declare, that unless he received a satisfactory answer from the Law Officers of the Crown to this case, he should certainly oppose the adjournment of the House. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said, he at present ' was not aware that any determination had been come' to by the Court of King's Bench to adjourn the Sit tings after the present Term. If, however, any such determination should be come to, he would make in quiry into the case of this individual, and would order him to he discharged on putting in customary bail. Mr. HOBHOUSE, after this explanation, would do no more than move that the Petition be printed. When it was, however, recollected that this unfortu nate man had already been six weeks in confinement, and was utterly ruined, he hoped the Honourable and Learned Gentleman would lose no time in bring ing on his trial. Mr. SCA RLETT said, this case was a strong proof of the inconvenience, to say the leas t of it, of taking prosecutions for libel out of the hands of the Law Officers of the Crown, and placing them in the hands of any body of men, or any Solicitor, however re spectable. As to the adjournment of the Sittings to October, he feared the rumour was well founded.— He lamented it on account of the Suitors and of the Public, as well as of the Bar. If the Sittings were to be carried into October, they would soon go the year through, and Gentlemen of the profession would be • reduced to the situation of shopkeepers and mechanics. Gentlemen would be driven from the profession, un less they would consent to put on their wigs and gowns every day in the year, Sundays excepted.— The Hon. and Learned Gentleman then proceeded to urge the inconvenience ss hich arose from the Courts being held at a di lance from each other, as they now were, and to state the necessity there was for building new Courts contiguous to each other. After a few words from Mr. M. A. TAYLOR and Mr.DENNIAN, the Petition was ordered to be printed. CAPTAIN ROMEO. Colonel DAVIES then rose to present another Pe tition from Captain Rotneo, complaining of the con duct of the Sicilian Government, and of the hardships, imprisonment, and losses which he had suffered, as the reward of the services rendered by him to the British Army previous to our evacuation of that Island. The Petition was a counterpart of that pre sented by Mr. Hume on a 'former night, and was ac- , companied by letters, certificates, and other docu ments, given by persons of rank—amongst whom were General Maitland, Lord William Bentinck, and General Campbell, bearing testimony to the services rendered by Captain Romeo to the British, and de claring their belief that to those services might be impute.' the present hostile feelings of the Neapolitan Government towards this individual ; the result of which hostile feeling had been pecuniary loss to the' Petitioner to the amount of £32,000. 'f he prayer of the Petitioner was, that his case might be referred to • a Committee for investigation. He charged this Go vernment with nothing but refusing him inquiry. He was convinced they had been misinformed and im posed on, for they bad received their informatiou • from his enemies, and all he asked was full inquiry find investigation to ascertain what WAS the truth of the case. The Hon. Member concluded by moving, that the Petition be brought up. The Marquis of LONDONDERRY would not oppose this Petition being brought up, though it must be understood as asking pecuniary relief; nor would he now enter into a repetition of the state ment he bad made to the House on a former night; he must repeat,however, that after mature consider ation, this did not appear to be a case in which the Government of this country could properly interfere. At the same time that be said this, he was not called on to justify the conduct of the Neapolitan Govern ment; but thus much he must say, that it did appear the conduct of the Neapolitan Government was founded not on the connection of Romeo with the British Government, but on other grounds. As to referring this Petition to a Committee of the House, that was a course which could not be adopted; for how was a Committee to inquire? Would they take ' Captain Romeo's es paric statement, or would they cite the Neapolitan Government to their bar to answer it? The case, as investigated, had appeared satisfactory to this Government. Captain Romeo' had certainlysperformed his office of Agent of Police, and an observer of the actions of the conspirators, and he was paid ft; his services at the rate of fifty dollars per month ; and if be was not sufficiently, and even liberally paid by the Noble Lord (Bentinck), be was the only individual who could prefer the' charge of illiberality against that Noble Lord ; and it was somewhat singular, if Captain Romeo was not sufficiently paid, he did not complain at the time, or that he should suffer his claim to remain dormant for 1811 to 1817. In 1817 he made his application to Lord Bathurst, and, in consequence of his repre sentations, he had a pension of £5O a-year assigned to, him. He afterwards renewed his application, and stated, that if he could have his pension converted ' into its value, and that sum paid over to him, he would he satis fi ed, and quit this country. This was done for him, but he afterwards made an objection to quitting the country, because he (the Marquis of Londonderry) would not give hm a passport from his office. Now it was not customary for him to give passports, except in the shape of letters of re-' cammendatinw; and he was ready to confess to the Milne, that he was not prepared to give Captain, Borneo letters of recommendation as to character and - conduct, ender his hand, to travel over Europe, n : ltil. Udder all the circumstances of the case, he was sorry if Captain Romeo was in distress, but he' did not perceive how this Government could do any snore for him than they had done. Lord W. BENTINCK could not say that Captain Romeo had any direct claim on this Government for setvices rendered to the British Army in Sicily. If was not paid staciontly, he should have applied at the time to the governing Authorities in Sicily.— But the question now was, whether, in consequence of the conduct of his , own Government, this Govern ment would now render him any assistance. With respect to the pension, it ought to have been more or nothing. He would, however, have been satisfied with the sum he received, could he have quitted this country ; but he was kept here by want of passports till his money was spent, and he was seduced to the greatest pove: ty. Mr. GOULBURN said, had all the circumstances which had since come to the knowledge of this Go vernment been known to them in 1817, Capt. Romeo would have had no pension at all. Lord A. HAMILTON could not look at this as a question merely of pounds, shillings, and pence. It was one in which the services of Capt. Romeo should be looked at, as to the nature of those services. He had performed services for us in British uniform, and against those of his own country, by which he was prevented from returning to his own country, and getting his living there. The 'Noble Marquis, on a former night, had mentioned that a charge of 1:1,500 was made for a present of that sum to the mistress of a French General. Now that sum was paid to pro cure the liberty of himself and forty other indivi duals, by her influence. Three British Officers said that Captain Romeo owed all his persecutions to the services he had done to the British Government. He thought that Captain Romeo was entitled to remune ration for his services. Mr. C. HUTCHINSON stated Captain Romeo to be a banished man, on account of the services he had done to the British Government at an eventful period, and was consequently entitled to remuneration. — Nothing had been heard of Captain Romeo lor.a con siderable time, but the cause was, that Captain Romeo had been in prison for that time, partly in Naples, and partly in Egypt ;'and that had been the cause why nothing had been heard of him. Captain Romeo had been taken prisoner, and by means of the Lady alluded to, had been enabled, along with others, to escape. Colonel DAVIES shortly replied. The Petition was then laid on the table. COURT OF EXCHEQUER IN IRELAND. Mr.W.WYNN brought up the Report of the Com mittee on the Ninth Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into alleged abuses of the Coons of Law in Ireland. There were some points upon which the Committee could form no opinion, for want of the necessary information ; and others upon which a satisfactory answer had nut been given, ac corning to the evidence adduced. He now sug gested the propriety of having the Report printed, and of collecting as much evidence as could be got during the recess. The Marquis of LONDONDERRY expressed his hope that the Home might he enabled to go into the subject next Session, with ample information as to all the facts. Mr.RICE felt it his duty to abandon the course be intended to pursue, in consequence of the assurance just given b) the Noble Marquis. Captain O'GRADY cordially acquiesced in the determination to procure all the evidence that could Ibe furnished. Ile did, howeizer, complain that an Hon. Member had s::lected the Court of Exchequer from all the other Courts, as a subject for ulterior proceedings. If those proceedings did not result from an abstract love of justice, he (Capt. O'Grady) knew not how they were to be represented, except as exceedingly unfa;r Mr. RICE disclaimed, in the most decided terms, any undue motives in bringing the question forward. Captain O'GRADY said, that the inquiry being partial, he must to that extent think it unjust. The Report was then ordered to lie on the table, and to be printed. • " CONSTITUTIONAL " AIROCIATION. _ _ • Mr. C. S. WHITBREAD, in rising to bring for ward his motion respecting a set of persons who had the impudence to style themselves the " Constitu tional Association," telt that he owed an apology to the House for introducing so important a question, when it might be taken up by much abler hands. Yet he should consider himself guilty of a great de reliction of duty, if he suffered that Association to pass unnoticed, seeing that no other Member was disposed to bring it formally under the consideration of the House—(flcar, hear). Ile had long expected that some Member of more talent and experience than he could lay claim to, would have undertaken the task ; but that not being the case, he was, how ever incompetent, anxious to slim that the " Consti tutional Association" was as odious in principle as it was unjust and unconstitutional in practice—(Hear, hear). It worked in the dark—its dceis did not come before the world till they were unveiled in all their hideous deformity. It must be obvious to every man that there was the greatest difficulty- in attacking an enemy who was sheltered by perfidy, treachery, and deceit. He was well aware that many persons of high rank and character had joined this Society. For those persons he entertained the greatest respect, and he could not help being convinced that they were seduced into the vile company among ‘‘liich they found themselves, by the specious title which a few obscure and worthless individuals had assumed. If they had taken their true title of the " Birchin-lane Plot," instead of the " Constitutional Association," they would never have seen men of rank, character, or station among them—(Cheers). Such men would have seen that the Society was set on foot by a set of attornies, from interested motives. Any man who opened his eyes, must see; hat a Society, with the osten sible objects of the present one, was altogether urine ! cessary. No man would deny that power enough was vested in the Law Officers of the Crown to in stitute proceedings against political offenders. What ever might be the offences of Benbow and Dolby, the Attorney-General had ample power to take cogni , zance of them. He did not stand there to defend sedition in any shape or form, but he would say that more had been done against. the interests of society by the "Constitutional Association," than by all the I pamphlets or caricatures ever sent forth by Benbow or Dolby, aided by the protected publications in St. James's-street—(Cheers). He maintained that no corporated body of prosecutors ought to be tolerated in a country having the slightest semblance of free dom. The Law Officers of the Crown were respon sible for their acts, but the " Constitutional Associa tion" was above all responsibility. A set of persons acting collectively were not ashamed openly to avow transactions which, as individuals, they would never j dare to acknowledge—(Near : hear). From the sys tem upon which they regulated their iniquitous pro ceedings, those who welt accused knew not their ac-, cusers. He insisted that this was in open defiance of the law of the land, and in direct contempt of the Act of Maintenance, the object of which was to prevent oppression. In the one case the party prosecuted might recover damages, if the prosecution could not be sustained ; but in the other, he had no redress whatever,. for all the trouble and 'vexation he might be put to. Upon a recent occasion some persons who were prosecuted by this infamous Association ap plied to the Court of King% Bench, and obtained the extraordinary privilege of putting questions to the Petit Jury, to ascertain if any of them belonged to the Society. The right to put such questions pre supposed a great evil ; but the evil was still greater when the Grand Jury happened to be members of the Association. If those members formed the majority, what chance of escape was there for the party? Or, if not convicted, what chance had he of recompence? No indictment could take place for a malicious pro secution, from the difficulty of fixing decided malice on the parties prosecuting, whether on an individual, or on the Association. If the Judge chanced to be a member, who could doubt of the decision ? This Society militated against the very spirit of the Con stitution ; it poisoned the very source of public jus tice ; it corrupted all that was. sound, and disgraced all that was respectable in the institutions of the. country—(l/ear, hear). What! were we to endure tyranny, because it assumed the mask of loyalty ? Or, were we to endure it, because it was patronized by Peers, old women, and his Majesty's Ministers?— if this was to be the case, then Mr. Sharpe and Mr. Murray might in future supersede the Attorney and Solicitor-General, and become the recognized in spectors of pamphlets and caricatures. If there were any persons now present who belonged to the So ciety, as he believed there were, he hoped they would take care to withdraw from it before they committed themselves so far as to become bankrupts in fame--.. (Hear, hcar).—He would ask those who heard him, if they admit ed the Censorship of France, or the In quisition of Spain? The Constitutional Association was a volunteer censorship on the Press—that Pi ess which was the best guardian of our liberties. He did not deny that the power of that great engine might be abused, but let the correction be left, not to an interested confederacy, hut to the unsullied hands of justice. It was true that the Constitutional Associa tion had not its fire and faggots like the Inquisition of Spain, but it had its familiars, spies, and agents, and narked nut its victims, who were to be seized by treachery and deceit. If this system was sufferea to go on, life in this country would be a curse; all free discussion on public affairs would be put an end to, and men would avoid each other as in a city in which a violent contagion raged. It could hardly escape observation, that since the notice taken of the pro cce.:ings of the Society by his Hon. Friend the Mem ber for Westminster (Mr. Hobhouse), the members of it remained in a state of treacherous inactivity.— were quiet only till after the rising of Parlia nient, when they intended to resume their wicked la bours with increa•ed energy. The Hon. Member concluded by moving, that an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, praying that he would be graciously pleased to direct his Attorney-General to enter a noli prosequi upon all indictments by a So- , ciety, styling itself the " Constitutional Association."' Mr. B. BATHURST spoke against the motion at considerable length; but the principal point urged by the Right Hon. Gentleman was the inexpediency of calling upon the House to declare any opinion, as to whether the Society was unconstitutional or ille gal. /le contended that the Honouraile Member bad not entered into any explanation of the princi ples of the Society, and therefore it could not be in ferred whether they were reprehensible or otherwise. Reasoning from the analogies of the Cons'tirution, he thought that a prosecution, which was to be carried on according to the regular forms of law, was less exceptionable than a prosecution by the Attorney- General, who stepped over those forms to a certain extent in particular cases. It might, perhaps, be true that the Society in question had originated in the pri vati: views of professional individuals; but he thought it very improbable, when he considered the great de gree of public attention it had excited. One thing was certain, that the Society was doing a great deal, and lie was convinced, that the more its merits were discussed, the more it would triumph—(llear, hear). The Right lion. Gentleman then proceeded to notice other Societies of a similar nature, which had been instituted at the time of the French Revolution, and the legality of which was sanctioned by the highest Judicial Authorities. He maintained that it was most unjust to say that the Grand Jury would be preju diced, from the mere circumstance of their happen. ing to belong to that Society. Dr. LUSHINGTON thought it a little singular, that after the lapse of thirty years, during which pe riod so many disgraceful Acts had been placed in the Statute Book, a Cabinet Minister should rise up and defend the Constitutional Association, as if all that had been previously done was not sufficient for his purpose. According to the argument of the Right Hon. Gentleman, Sir John Sewell, Knight, and W. J. B. Sharpe, rendered useless the office cf the Attor ney-General. The Right Hon. Gentleman said, in deed, that this was not an unconstitutional Society, and contended that it had a parallel in a Society called the Crown and Anchor Society, which existed in 1792. He (Dr. Lushington) was not old enough to recollect that Society, of which he believed Mr. Reeves was the Secretary. But he believed that no prosecution had been instituted by it--(Hear).—No doubt, by the common law, any individual who was aggrieved was competent to prosecute the o& fender. But he would ask whether, prior to this Society, any association of individuals had ever been theformel State , for tlie except, of the promotings Socie t y iet crime s fothe against r Sup pression of Vice ?—( Loud cries of Hear, hear).— • Society which carried on its proceedings in the most partial manner—prosecuting bakers for baking shoulders of mutton beyond the fixed hour on Sun days, while it passed over all the violations of the Sabbath which were openly committed by the higher ranks of life at the west end of the town (Hear, hear). He did not know what hypocrisy was, if it was not hypocrisy for a Society to assume to itself the title of and enhegd which,notwithstandingela(nHceeara:gha h e ar nasrt p 0 o jr—Withi rt respect professions,sarnedc t le ftto tttee sr bent cchie, ut ne l an Association for the general Suppression of Vice, titiouvc for prosecuting felOnies , the crimes, ; in 0 01 cases, were robberies; and such other offences of a moral n w a a t s ure a s a o s o no iety m fo an r peroouslocloohtamg p have any yliticadoubt of ; b ut h ere l crimes, v i nes upon which almost every second individual had a di/. ferent opinion. So various were the sentiments o f men upon such crimes, that one Jury had convi cte d an individual for the same Jibe' of which ano n Jury had acquitted a different person. This actually occurred in the case of The Examiner, some few year* ago. But if the writings of Burke himself, o ne of the greatest men and ablest writers that this count?y had ever seen, were brought before a certain desc r i i ; tion of Jurors, and if there was a corrupt Judge i s charge them, it was very probable that the sam e pu nishment might be inflicted on the publisher of d iem that had been inflicted on other publishers. At au events, he supposed it would not be maintained tint any of these Associators could sit as a Grand Junw on any indictment offered by the Association ; f oe then, clearly, he would so far try a person whom, by • his subscription, or by his participation in the election of the Committee, he had contributed to prosecute. No man could be said to have a fair trial if such a , person sat upon his Grand Jury; and hence he thou g h t that the Court of King's Bench had, much to its ere. dit, directed, that with regard to the Petit Ju te , „ t least, the question should be put to each Juror, titer he was a member of the Association? N o; i. t would ask the Right Honourable Gentleman whe t h er he and the Court of Kin's Bench were not at rail. ante on this subject? That Court thought that no Associator of this kir d could be an honesthror; b ut the Right Honourable Gentleman, on the contrary, was of opinion that he was!—(Hear, berr.)—i n 1 4 - vie v, them were several constitutional objectiung against this Society. In the first place, he would beg to ask his Honourable and Learned Friend opposite, what redress had a poor and an inju:ed party against this Association? They had for the prosecutionlae ge funds at their disposal ; and when they had from me Irish Peer one item of LAM— (Hear, ha - 0-Ihry might w. - . 41 afford to fee Counset to ;in) , extent. sup. posing, however, that a defendant might fortunately , emerge from the Pandemonium of this Society, uhe was to answer for Mr. J. B. Sharpe?—what process could be taken against Lord Powei scowl ? If his Honourable and Learned Friend could give a satis. factory answer to this question, he would be ciratent to change his opinion. But the 'peculiarity of th e case was, that, in the name of the Society, a nns of straw might be set up, who was incaril!le of paying any damages, hou ever small, that might be assessed against him! Another objection to this Se. ciety was, that it created its own offences. The Corn. mittee, in one notorious instance, sent an individual to a shop, to induce the owner to commit the very offence which they afterwards charged against him! (Hear, hear).—This, every one must confess, was a most odious and illegal proceeding. It was asserted openly to have been done, and it was not denied— (Hear, hear).—He did not think that his Honourable and Learned Friend opposite (the Solicitor-General) would vindicate such a proceeding as this. Thai Ha nourable and Learned Gentleman's political opinirm generally had differed, indeed, from his ova; but he confessed he had a better opinion or him than to be- lieve that he would not desire to restore the country to its former liberties by the good old forms of law, than by the agency of such new-fangled Instituriaa as that now before them. The Honourable aid Learned Gentleman then proceeded to say, that if he thought a counter•association were legal, he would become a member of one; but he apprehended that by such opposition the country, instead of sub. siding into a state of peace, would soon become the theatre of universal rancour and contention, so that it would be impossible, on any question of a political description, to find Grand or Petit Jurors who were not prejudiced on one side or the other (Hear, hear). He protested against a system of that nature; and, feeling as he did that this Association was likely to be injurious to the best interests of the country, be would give his Honourable Friend's motion the most cordial support—(Hear, hear). Sir M. CHOLMELEY complained of the wide diffusion of seditious publications and indecent prints. He himself had, some days ago, overheard some children, who were looking at some prints of this de. scription in a window: one said to the other, Are not these pictures very fine?"—. , Yes," said the other, " they may be very tine, but they are totally com Crary to what our masters have tau g ht us."—Was it to be doubted that such publications were most de. trin.ental to the morals of youth, and that they ought to be put down, and punished in the most exemplary manner ?—(Hear, hear). Mr. WILBERFORCE defended the Society fee the Suppression of Vice from the attack which had been made upon it by the Hon. and Learned Gentle. man who spoke last in the debate. He stated its oh jests, one of which was the prosecution of indecent prints, and out of forty-five such prosecutions that the Society had instituted, not one had failed. Whet the Society first began their career, they found prints of the most abominable kind making their way into seminaries where youth were instructed--(Haar , hear).—With respect to the Hon. and Learned Gen tleman's remarks on the prosecutions that the Society had instituted for the profanation of the Sabbath, he must say, that it seemed to him as if the Hon. and Learned Gentleman advocated the lower orders. as if they bad a right to violate that sacred day, he' cause some of the higher orders had been guilty oft similar offence—(Cries of " No, no.")—lt might easel be conceived that persons in the higher sphere of lie had the power of concealing their violations of the Sunday—(Hear, hear). —They might, for install ce r lock their doors, and might do many things w h ich were not in their own n 'tore capable of being prose; cuted. But, with regard to the Society itself, it might be recollected that it had received the recto mendations and encouragement of many of the best law authorities, and most venerable men known to the country. With respect to the motion before the House, he had to observe, that there never was 2 period when the licentiousness of the Pre >s was s,O great as it was at present—( Hear, hear, fr om lige, Ministerial Benches). —Calumny, and slander,. an d falsehood were circulated in every shape , and pos.ll e _ as well as public character was assailed in the foulest and most insufferable manner—(Hear, hear, hear).-- Such being the case, he considered it, so . far from being unconstitutional, , to be strictly conf orm able to it the very genius of the Constitution, that individu.ii. should ..uciate to make personal exertions 14 u